Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jan 16 2025

Scripture Study for

The woman in the poem from Proverbs is traditionally described as virtuous or worthy. However, the adjective in Hebrew has a much stronger sense. It denotes might or strength, the kind of valor found in armies. It is in this sense that the woman is worthy. This woman is extraordinary, not because valiant women cannot be found, but that among all valiant women this one is remarkable. She exemplifies virtues such as self-sufficiency, industry, versatility, trustworthiness, constancy, and general goodness. She is virtuous and successful because she possesses the wisdom that flows from fear of the Lord. Among all women, the one who fears the Lord is truly valiant.

The mysterious “day of the Lord” will be a day of rejoicing for the righteous, but one of sorrow for the wicked. Paul employs two powerful metaphors to describe this day. Its unexpected nature resembles a thief in the night; the suffering that accompanies it is referred to as “the birth pangs of the messiah.” Paul uses the light-darkness, day-night dichotomies to describe both the situation in which the Thessalonians find themselves and the vigilance that this situation demands. As children of light and of the day, they must be alert, always on the watch so that when the day of the Lord comes, they are not found unprepared.

The parable in today’s Gospel throws light on the meaning of preparedness. It is not a disposition of passive waiting or non-engagement because of the fear of possible failure. Rather, the preparedness rewarded here stems from the realization that one is a steward of the goods of another, and knowing the disposition of that other, one seeks to maximize the potential of those goods. The time of waiting is a period of opportunity, of active engagement, of creative growth. One’s future salvation does not rest on the extent or quality of one’s talent, but on how one utilizes that talent as one waits for the master to return.

Jan 12 2025

Return on Investment

Another test! This time, it looks like the final in the evangelist Matthew’s finance class. Is there an eternal spreadsheet in heaven? Do the angels daily tabulate how much God has invested in us and how much we give back? When we get to the pearly gates, will St. Peter be holding out our heavenly balance sheet?

In today’s parable, “talents” were worth a thousand dollars each. In ancient times, the master who gave five talents, or five thousand dollars, invested a lot of money. Even one thousand dollars would have been a generous risk. Did he find the return on investment (ROI) worth it?

A mom gets up at 2:46 a.m. to tend to a vomiting four-year-old. A programmer sips his fourth cup of coffee to get the energy to put the final edits on a project. A coach invests long hours to improve her shooting forward’s free throws. Is the ROI worth it?

What are we to make of this parable? Is Jesus urging us toward a responsible lifestyle in which we carefully use (and not bury in the ground) the talents we have been given to build a better world? Is he telling us to dutifully invest the goods of faith toward lifting the lost? Yes and yes.

But even more than that, Christian life is not a bargaining “You gave me this, God, so I’ll give you that.” The mom may (or may not) make a return on the time she gives to her child in the middle of the night. She loves anyway. The Creator of the world will never make a balanced return on us. God loves anyway. God takes a risk on us. The Giver of gifts asks us to invest our lives in the boldest of schemes: follow Jesus wherever and however he leads. That is a grand venture. The ROI is out of this world.

Consider/Discuss

Have you ever cried out in frustration, “God, you owe me!” or “I deserve more!” How does the bargaining of a “balance-sheet Christianity” disparage the generosity of the risk-taking God? Are we willing to invest our lives and take a risk on the divine giver?
In abuse situations, children hide. When a boss’s temper is erratic, employees pull inward. If you had a hard taskmaster, would you feel like hiding your talents in the ground? What would help you to be willing to step out and take a risk?

Living and Praying with the Word

God of love, there is no way that I can give you back as much as I have been given. Do not let me see myself as a number on a heavenly balance sheet. Whatever you call me to do, help me to spend my life with love and generosity. I believe that this life is worth my best effort. Refresh my energy, for sometimes I feel it wearing out. You did not count the cost. Help me to do the same. For you, eternal God, have not just promised a “reward.” You have promised me yourself as my future.

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

The woman in this poem from Proverbs may be understood literally, as the “ideal wife,” or symbolically, as Wisdom. The Bible regularly extols wisdom as a great prize, worth more than gold or precious jewels, more than long life or power. As a personification of God’s will and reason, Wisdom imparts to those who befriend her all they need to be successful in the world and in their relationship with God. A human wife would have learned from Wisdom and thus manifested her teachings, which extend across the whole human experience, from practical household management to concern for the poor (what Wisdom would call “righteousness”) to fear of the Lord (the prerequisite for learning wisdom [Proverbs 9:10]).

The phrase “peace and security” was part of the propaganda of the Roman Empire, so Paul’s use of it here points toward those who are content with and profiting from the present age of human rule. These are unprepared, living as it were “at night” and in darkness, for the coming of the Lord. But for those who live in the light, who are hopefully waiting for the Lord and living accordingly, his advent will not come as an unpleasant surprise. Living in the day, they will not be asleep, but awake and ready. In other words, no one knows the “times or seasons,” but those who are living the Christian life will be prepared to meet the Lord whenever he comes.

The focus of the parable of the talents is on the unfortunate servant who failed to gain any profit for his master because he was afraid. The Lectionary translation has the servant characterizing his master as “demanding,” but the Greek word (skleiros) really means hard, harsh, or severe. The servant, afraid to trade because he might lose the money and incur the master’s wrath, failed to realize that the master showed confidence in him by giving him the talent and was willing to take a chance on him. The fault lay not in failing to gain any money, but in not even trying out of lack of trust in the master and his wisdom in giving the talent in the first place.

Jan 06 2025

Scripture Study for

The day of the Lord is the time of the fulfillment. It is the time when justice will be realized, the scales of righteousness will be balanced, the good will be rewarded, and the evil will be punished. Israel believed that that day would be a time of vindication and rejoicing. On that day, the Lord will rise majestically for the upright, like the sun in the eastern sky that shines forth in righteousness. The healing flowing from this experience of God is the total reversal of the flaming destruction in store for the wicked.

Paul instructs the community to seek internal harmony and to strive for a positive reputation before those outside the community. Paul offers his own conduct as an example for them to follow. He reminds them that his own behavior has been beyond reproach. He has not presumed upon the hospitality of others; he is not a financial burden to them. This leads him to comment on a situation that he has been told exists within the community. Some have been acting like busybodies rather than actually being busy. Paul insists that if people want to eat, they must work like everyone else.

The Gospel reading addresses the signs that should alert the people to impending doom. These signs are demonstrations of upheaval. They include political unrest and violence as well as disturbances in the natural world, all experiences that people believed would precede the end of the age. They also portend the persecutions that the followers of Jesus will have to endure at the hands of governments, friends and acquaintances, and even family members. The persecutions they will be called upon to endure will be a witness to the name of Jesus. Though Jesus might be talking about the events that would precede the actual destruction of the glorious temple and the beloved city within which it stood, elements in his discourse suggest an end-of-time dimension to his teaching.

Jan 06 2025

Prepare for the Day of the Lord

People say that 9/11 changed us irrevocably, that we have lost for good a sense of being invulnerable. That dreadful day revealed we were no longer secure from the kind of violence that could suddenly turn our world upside down, shattering our well-being, bringing death and destruction, and leaving us in a world of fear, insecurity, and anxiety. Unfortunately, such experiences characterize so much of human history.

The destruction of the temple in 70 A.D., an event that Jesus could see coming, was an “end of the world” experience for the people of Jerusalem. The temple was for them the heart of the city, the most sacred space for Israel, God’s dwelling place among the Chosen People. Luke’s own community also knew of the persecution and hardship Jesus speaks of today. What was important then and remains important now is a willingness to give witness to the Lord in all circumstances, even when doing so threatens our world. We too can take comfort in Jesus’ words: “I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.”

Consider Jesus’ final words today: “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” We can take comfort knowing that if we persevere, when the Day of the Lord comes, we will counted among the just who will experience it as the arrival of “the sun of justice with its healing rays.” In the meantime, as Paul advises, go about your lives, working quietly to bring about the kingdom of God.

Consider/Discuss

Don’t we already know the “Day of the Lord” every Sunday when Christ comes to us in the Eucharist?
How are you called to witness to the Lord in your life?

Responding to the Word

God who comes, we ask that you give us the grace to persevere through whatever trials and upheavals come into our lives. Help us to live in the awareness that your Son is with us and continues to draw us more deeply into communion with you through the working of the Holy Spirit.