The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today resonate with the truth of the joy we experience when we align our morality with the will of God.
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| Table hospitality |
The reading from the Prophet Nehemiah relates the response of the exiles in Jerusalem when Ezra read the Law.
* [8:1–18] Chronologically this belongs after Ezr 8:36. The gloss mentioning Nehemiah in Neh 8:9 was inserted in this Ezra section after the dislocation of several parts of Ezra-Nehemiah had occurred. There is no clear evidence of a simultaneous presence of Nehemiah and Ezra in Jerusalem; Neh 12:26, 36 are also scribal glosses.1
Psalm 19 declares that the creator’s wisdom is available to human beings in the law.
* [Psalm 19] The heavenly elements of the world, now beautifully arranged, bespeak the power and wisdom of their creator (Ps 19:2–7). The creator’s wisdom is available to human beings in the law (Ps 19:8–11), toward which the psalmist prays to be open (Ps 19:12–14). The themes of light and speech unify the poem.2
In the Gospel from Luke, Jesus initiates the Mission of the Seventy (72).
* [10:4] Carry no money bag…greet no one along the way: because of the urgency of the mission and the singlemindedness required of missionaries, attachment to material possessions should be avoided and even customary greetings should not distract from the fulfillment of the task.3
Kyle Lierk comments that the very act of gathering at table is tied up in how we respond to God’s law and labor in God’s harvest land.
Those learners and listeners in today’s first reading seem to feel overwhelmed by what is proclaimed and prescribed to them by Ezra from the scroll. “For all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law.” (v.9) In response to their tears and heavy hearts, the people are instructed to go and share a meal together while also sharing with those who had little. It was through the breaking of bread that joy re-entered their hearts. Jesus draws from the same playbook in Luke’s Gospel when he sends out the 72 “other disciples” ahead of him. He tells them to take little for the journey other than their trust in the hospitality of others to sustain them and the offering of their peace in return. Presumably, it is at the meal table where this exchange will take place.4
Don Schwager quotes “Jesus the Good Shepherd changes wolves into sheep,” by Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD).
"How then does [Jesus] command the holy apostles, who are innocent men and 'sheep,' to seek the company of wolves, and go to them of their own will? Is not the danger apparent? Are they not set up as ready prey for their attacks? How can a sheep prevail over a wolf? How can one so peaceful conquer the savageness of beasts of prey? 'Yes,' he says, 'for they all have me as their Shepherd: small and great, people and princes, teachers and students. I will be with you, help you, and deliver you from all evil. I will tame the savage beasts. I will change wolves into sheep, and I will make the persecutors become the helpers of the persecuted. I will make those who wrong my ministers to be sharers in their pious designs. I make and unmake all things, and nothing can resist my will.'" (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON LUKE, HOMILY 61)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Nehemiah 8:1-12 notes the people began to weep as they realized that they had strayed from their calling to be God’s own special people. But instead of letting the people remain caught in their mourning, Ezra and Nehemiah, the governor, urged them to rejoice. God had granted his people a new beginning. They had rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, so now the people were protected from their enemies. They could return to worshipping the Lord, walking in his ways, and being obedient to his commandments.
When we realize how we have strayed from the Lord, we might have the same reaction as the people did—we are sad because we have disobeyed God and fallen short. But when we recognize our sinfulness, we should see it as God pricking our conscience so that we will turn back to him. He doesn’t want us to get bogged down in sorrow and guilt. He wants us to come to him in repentance so that he can pour out his mercy on us. As he did for the Israelites, he wants to give us a new beginning; he wants to wipe the slate clean so that we can start again.6
Friar Jude Winkler notes that Nehemiah had to rebuild the moral foundation of the people. Finding the ways of the Lord happens in God’s time. Friar Jude reminds that when we know of Jesus mission we have to make a decision.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, God gave St. Francis to history in a pivotal period when Western civilization began to move into rationality, functionality, consumerism, and perpetual war. Francis just did things differently. The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better (one of the Center’s core principles).
As Europe began to centralize and organize everything at high levels of control and fashion, Francis, like a divine trickster, said, “Who cares!” When Roman Catholicism under Pope Innocent III reached the height of papal and worldly power, he said in effect, “There is another way that is much better!” Exactly when we began a style of production and consumption that would eventually ravage planet earth, he decided to love the earth and live simply and barefoot upon it. Francis of Assisi is a Prime Attractor to what we really want, what we definitely need, and who we finally are. And, apparently, he did it all with a “perfect joy” that comes from letting go of the ego!7
[1] As we journey with Christ, the fulfillment of the Law, we are inspired to fullness of life by doing things differently in accord with the will of the Father.
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