{"id":926,"date":"2019-10-26T07:55:29","date_gmt":"2019-10-26T07:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=926"},"modified":"2019-10-26T07:55:29","modified_gmt":"2019-10-26T07:55:29","slug":"27-october-2019-c-thirtieth-sunday-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=926","title":{"rendered":"27 October 2019 (C) Thirtieth Sunday of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A. <em>The Bible as Guide in Life\nand Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>B. Reflection &amp; Dialogue: <\/em><\/strong><em>Do no be haughty,\nbut associate with the lowly<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A. <em>The Bible as Guide in Life\nand Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>First Reading <\/em>(Ecclesiasticus 35:12-14, 16-19). <em>The humble person\u2019s prayer pierces the\nclouds. <\/em>The book of Jesus Ben Sira (Ecclesiasticus) from which this reading\nis taken is part of the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. Israel\u2019s\nearly wisdom literature originated in the human reflection on life and human\nbehaviour, without any reference to the covenant with God. Good part of Ben\nSira\u2019s book belongs to this approach, although he also does unite this approach\nwith the covenant, devotion and the Law of Moses. Ben Sira was a Jewish sage\nwho had a school for imparting this wisdom approach in Jerusalem. He composed his book about the\nyear 180 B.C. In the passage read today he speaks from his human experience and\nfrom his religious inheritance. The biblical context to which the passage\nbelongs speaks of God as the just and impartial judge who does not neglect\nthose in distress. The pleas of the devout and the humble pierce the clouds and\nreach God\u2019s heavenly throne. God will not be slow to come to their assistence.The\npassage stresses the special status of the lowly and the humble in God\u2019s sight,\nand as such is well chosen to go with today\u2019s Gospel reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Responsorial Psalm <\/em>(Psalm 32[33]). <em>This poor man called; the Lord heard him.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Second Reading <\/em>(2\nTimothy 4:6-8, 16-18). <em>All there is to\ncome now is the crown of righteousness reserved for me. <\/em>In this letter we\nhave the beautiful testament of Paul. It is not likely that the Pastoral\nLetters were penned by Paul, but rather come from a generation after his death,\na generation that looks back at Paul\u2019s life and labours and at the heritage he\nhas left behind. His epitaph is now placed on Paul\u2019s own lips, in words that if\nnot from him are worthy of his eloquence: \u201cI have fought the good fight to the\nend; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith\u201d. He tells\nTimothy that his end is near. He uses two images in this description. The first\nis that his end is presented as sacrifice. He is already being poured out as a\nlibation. Paul had already used similar language when writing to the\nPhilippians (2:17), on an occasion when his life may have been in danger. \u201cEven\nif I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the offering of\nyour faith, I am glad and rejoice\u201d. Just as libations of wine, water or oil were\npoured on sacrifices, so shall Paul\u2019s blood be shed in martyrdom. The second\nimage he uses is that of departure, like a ship leaving harbour. He uses two\nfurther images with regard to his life\u2019s work: a fight and a race. Timothy and\nhis fellow Christians would know full well the fight and the battles Paul was\nengaged in, from the first moment of his call by Christ on the Damascus road to the very end, his struggles\nto bring faith in Christ to the pagans, salvation through faith in Christ alone\nwithout the observance of the Jewish law. Paul\u2019s letters to the churches\nprovide ample evidence of all this. He has run the race and kept the faith.\nWriting to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 9:24-25) Paul spoke of the perishable\nwreath ardently sought after by athletes, unlike the imperishable one in store\nfor Christians. The crown of righteousness now awaited Paul, and all faithful Christians.\nIn the second section of this reading Paul tells how he was deserted by everyone\nat his first defence. We do not know what the circumstances of the trial were;\npossibly during the Roman persecution of Nero. Neither do we know who the\npagans who listened to his message were; possibly those connected with his\nimprisonment. This will be Paul\u2019s last fight as he awaits to be taken safely to\nthe Lord\u2019s heavenly kingdom. His parting words are a fitting end to this his\ntestament: \u201cTo him (the Lord) be glory for ever and ever. Amen\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>The Gospel<\/em> (Luke 18:9-14). <em>The publican went home at rights with God;\nthe Pharisee did not. <\/em>The opening introduction to this parable of the\nPharisee and the tax collector (publican) tells us that Jesus spoke this\nparable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised\neveryone else. This is an indication that such people existed in Jesus\u2019 own\nday. The two classes in question, and the relevance of the parable, hold for\nall ages, our own included. To make his point clear Jesus takes a person who\ncould stand for each of these two groups. As a group the Pharisees were\nrenowned for the meticulous observance of the biblical laws, and the many laws\nof their own Pharisaic tradition. The tax collectors (publicans) had a bad name\nin that they exacted taxes beyond what was legally required to enrich\nthemselves. They were also often suspect of collaboration with the foreign\nRoman power. Jesus was not anti-Pharisee as such, at least in Luke\u2019s Gospel,\nwhere he is on occasion represented as dining with them, and being invited to\nmeals by them. The Pharisee believed that his devotional practices, traditional\nin Judaism (fasting twice a week, paying tithes, often on items beyond what\nwould normally be expected), were sufficient to make him \u201cjustified\u201d, at rights,\nwith God. He was, as it were, telling God in his prayer how \u201crighteous\u201d he was.\nThere was no indication of any sinfulness, or payer for forgiveness. It was\nquite the opposite with the tax collector. The Pharisee would have believed\nthat he had earned a right relationship with God through his \u201cgood\u201d works; that\nhe had earned righteousness through them. But righteousness is a free gift of\nGod, which was conferred by God on the tax collector, who went home\n\u201cjustified\u201d, at rights with God, while the Pharisee did not. The lesson drawn,\nand to be drawn, from the parable is the importance of humility, of a humble\nconsideration of oneself, in God\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>B. Reflection &amp; Dialogue<\/em><\/strong><em>: Do no be haughty,\nbut associate with the lowly<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jesus used very harsh words on hypocrisy and hypocrites, on\npeople who were accustomed to draw attention to themselves through their\nobservance of the three pious practices of Judaism, prayer, fasting and almsgiving.\nHe also criticized the Pharisees, and the scribes of the Pharisee tradition,\nfor their undue attention to the external cleanness of vessels and other\nobjects, while neglecting inner cleanness and higher values. These were all\nmatters concerning Jewish practices. In today\u2019s parable, although the two\nchosen to represent two groups were Jews, the traits of both the Pharisee and\nthe tax collector could stand for persons of any age, including our own. It\nbehoves the human person, in any age, to be lowly and humble in God\u2019s presence,\naware of his own human weakness and the weakness of human nature, as well as\nbeing aware of the All-Holiness of God, who understands and is concerned for\nall his creatures, the sinner included, in fact in particular the sinner. Today\u2019s\nparable directs our attention to that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Writing to\nthe Romans Paul puts the essence of today\u2019s parable is a few words: \u201cRejoice\nwith those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one\nanother; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be\nwiser than you are\u201d (Romans 12:15-16). The same teaching is given repeatedly by\nPaul and other New Testament writers. It would take a treatise to present all\nthe evidence: love of the neighbour, attending to the other\u2019s welfare rather to\none\u2019s own. The idea is represented in the Irish proverb that people live with\nmutual support, under one another\u2019s shadow. In this sense, with Paul\u2019s statement,\nthe New Testament teaching is very socialistic. Greater knowledge of this New Testament\nteaching is worth recalling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A. The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings) B. Reflection &amp; Dialogue: Do no be haughty, but associate with the lowly A. The Bible as Guide in &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sunday-readings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":927,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926\/revisions\/927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}