Scripture Study for
Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wisdom 2:12, 17–20 / Psalm 54:6b / James 3:16 — 4:3 / Mark 9:30–37
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Understanding the Word
By Br. John R. Barker, OFM
In a passage that would be at home in the prophetic literature, the book of Wisdom speaks of a “just one,” who knows the ways of God and strives to live according to them. This is in contrast to the wicked, who reject any notion of the hereafter and are heedless of divine justice and oppress the poor and the pious (Wisdom 2:1–11). The just one’s reproaches in this regard provoke violent plans. If God really does look out for the just, then God will surely defend them from attack. Thus the wicked seek to prove that the pious man who “boasts that God is his Father” (2:16) is deluded. Neither his piety nor God will protect him from condemnation.
James continues to develop the notion of being “doers of the word” by focusing on internal matters within the Christian community and the cultivation of wisdom. The wise are humble, not given to jealousy or self-advancement, and thus true wisdom (as opposed to earthly/unspiritual/demonic wisdom) promotes peace. James has already admonished his audience to control their tongues (3:1–12); now he exhorts them to control those impulses that lead to provoking others and seeking one’s advantage. Worldly wisdom promotes covetousness and greed, leading to grasping for what one does not have. Those who are doers of the word, who have true faith, ask God for what they want rather than try to grab it from others.
On the way to Capernaum, Jesus continues to teach his disciples that he will be abused and killed but will indeed rise. Given Peter’s halted attempt to reason with Jesus earlier, they are understandably confused: this is not what anyone expects of the Messiah. The disciples also fail to discern the larger meaning, which is that divine power is not made manifest in the same way that human power typically is. Jesus’ followers must learn to adjust themselves to act in accordance with God’s ways, not those of the world. Children, who are essentially powerless and who have not yet reached the age when they are grasping for it, are exemplars of the mentality Jesus seeks to inculcate in his disciples.