Sunday Scripture Readings

Submitted on May 24, 2007

Fr. Francis X. Cleary, SJ

TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, SEPTEMBER 5 Wisdom 9:13-18; Psalm 90; Philemon 9-10, 12-17; Luke 14:25-33 OUR GOOD NEWS: Instead of causing despair, honestly admitting our utter dependence upon God brings us genuine freedom. The first reading begins with a frank admission of failure on the part of ancient wisdom that modern science can only agree with. The human condition as constituted is too frail, too insubstantial, too much a part of the created world to rise above it and master both itself and the total environment. The more we study and discover, the less we really know. Strict scientific objectivity is impossible. The scientist himself is limited by restrictions imposed on human perception. Reality can never be known "as it is," for to observe is to distort. "The reasoning of mortals is uncertain, our plans precarious." To realize our full potential we need assistance from beyond the created order. Creation remains incomplete without a new and divine saving event. This, God has done. He confers divine "wisdom" (revelation) beyond human achieving, which both empowers and instructs us through his Holy Spirit. Human frailty and utter dependence on God become subjects for further sober reflection and prayer (today’s psalm). "You turn man back to dust." The brevity of our lives contrasts with God’s eternity and transcendence. According to ancient tradition reflected in the Book of Genesis, our first ancestors approached "a thousand years" in life span. And yet, from the divine perspective, a millennium is like "a night watch" of four hours to a sleeping person — barely an instant! The second stanza compares our transitory existence to desert grass that springs up after a rain but under the sun’s glare quickly "wilts and fades" into straw. Two modern responses to our universal fate include yielding to despair and escaping into pretense. We however face up to our limitations, crying out in total need for the living, life-giving Lord. As frail and insubstantial creatures we can’t appeal to our presumed rights but only to God’s "kindness (fidelity to generous promises) and gracious care." Even "the work of our hands," the one thing we could boast of as our own achieving, is in reality God’s doing. And so we conclude with the petition that God "prosper" all that we do, lest everything end up meaningless and futile. The responsorial verse sums up human experience "in every generation": God, our fortress or "refuge," preserves us from falling into nothingness. Thus, honest admission of human frailty deepens our faith commitment, bringing true peace and self-acceptance. God alone matters, and only he can help us. In both parables (Gospel) Jesus teaches us that the future is obviously more real than an evanescent present. The story about a farmer building a guard-tower reminds us that we should "first sit down and calculate the costs" of discipleship. Do we really want to get involved? The second, about a king threatened by an invading superior force, challenges us with the life-and-death question. Can we really afford to ignore Jesus' call to follow him?