Scripture Study for

Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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.

Living the Word logo

Copyright © 2021, 2020, 2019, 2012, 2011, 2010 World Library Publications, a div. of GIA Publications, Inc. www.giamusic.com
All rights reserved. Used by permission.