Restoration and Reversal

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to contemplate the attitudes and actions that lead us away from humility and generosity and toward pride and self aggrandizement.

Priority or Pride

 

The reading from the Book of Judges describes the theophany that is the calling of Gideon to restore the fortunes of Israel. Psalm 85 is a prayer for the restoration of God’s Favour. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus teaches “But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” Andy Alexander, S.J. (2011) comments that St. Ignatius Loyala, the founder of the Society of Jesus, puts it in terms of the two competing strategies of Jesus and the Evil One. The "Enemy of our human nature" has a strategy of drawing us to his side by attracting us to riches, which lead to honors, which ultimately trap us in pride - which ultimately is what ruins us. Pride takes away from God. St. Augustine said that pride is, "the love of one's own excellence." In contrast, Jesus draws us to himself by attracting us to poverty, which leads to dishonor, which ultimately offers us the gift of humility. Don Schwager quotes “Who can enter the kingdom of heaven?” by John Chrysostom, 347-407 A.D. The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 19:23-30 cites a short story titled “Revelation,” by renowned Catholic author Flannery O’Connor who describes a self-righteous character who believes she is far superior, in God’s eyes, to people from a different social class than hers. But then a disturbing incident occurs that causes her to question whether God actually sees her in the way she sees herself. What if she is not of greater worth than those she scorns? Friar Jude Winkler describes the sacrifice of Gideon that invokes awe and wonder. The ‘eye of the needle’ is a challenging analogy. Friar Jude Winkler reminds us that the Gospel today is not the “gospel of wealth” that is too often preached. Barbara Holmes describes the creation of blues music as an act of radical critique that can bring its listeners into a contemplative and holy space, far closer to God than we might be otherwise.The radical nature of our call to live as part of a reversal of cultural attitudes toward wealth and value of persons requires our guidance by the Spirit of God.