Who Do You Listen To? – 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
What makes the world the way it is?
James writes (in today’s second reading), “Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice.” To me it is clear that there is disorder in the world. There are foul things going on. Much of it is rooted in selfish ambition. Ambition isn’t the cause of all the world’s problems but there are people who don’t care who they hurt to get what they want for themselves. Do you care who you hurt?
There are people who don’t care what others think. They want to do whatever pleases them. This is nothing new. We see in today’s first reading from Wisdom. The “just one” has pointed out their sins to the people. They find him obnoxious because he sets himself against their doings, he reproaches them for their “transgressions of the law” and says they violate what they have taught.
What I find interesting is they do not attempt to refute what the just one has said about them. They make no attempt here to justify what the just one has identified as “transgressions of the law” on their part.
Instead, they attempt to get rid of the just one. They say, “Let us see whether his words be true…For if the just one be the son of God, God will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes.”
I wonder if they thought about their own words here. They expect God to defend a person who speaks on his behalf. Do they realize that means that if they attack the just one and he/she is speaking for God, then God is going to strike them in defense of the just one?
Today, in our nation, we may not see physical attacks on a person who speaks for God but people do try to silence them. I think some people actually don’t want there to be a universal truth. They want to be able to do what they want. In the name of freedom, they seek to silence anyone who speaks against what they want. If they were for the freedom of all people, they would not attempt to silence those they disagree with.
Where are we to turn? As James says, wars and conflicts come from our passions. When some people “do not possess” what they covet, they are willing to turn to wars and conflicts.
Where are we to turn to seek peace?
We are to turn to “wisdom from above.” When we turn to God for wisdom which is pure, we become peaceable and gentle, and come to bear good fruits. In Deuteronomy 4:6, Moses says of God’s commandments, “Observe them carefully, for this is your wisdom and discernment in the sight of the peoples, who will hear of all these statutes and say, “This great nation is truly a wise and discerning people.”
It used to be that those who followed God were seen as wise. Unfortunately, there are people today who want to determine for themselves what is good and bad. They base their determination on what brings them immediate pleasure. Referring to what James writes, they ask wrongly because what they seek is based on their passions. They may choose immediate pleasure. The pleasure I seek is to be spend eternity with God.
When we look to God for the answers, we do so because we know God to be the one who is all-knowing and we know that Jesus died for us.
Who are you going to listen to? The one who died for you or someone who acts based on what is good for them?
Peace,
Fr. Jeff