Dianne Bergant, C.S.A.

Jan 06 2025

Scripture Study for

Sirach insists that the justice of God is an established fact. He also states that God knows no favorites, neither the privileged nor the dispossessed. By making this statement he indirectly shows that, if there is any partiality, it is ours and not God’s. According to covenant theology, we are all responsible for each other. The well-off are obliged to address the needs of those who suffer misfortune. This is a matter of justice, not charity. As a covenant partner, God will intervene on behalf of the poor when other covenant partners disregard their responsibilities. Sirach assures these forlorn people that their entreaties will not go unheeded.

Paul is aware that his days are numbered. His death is imminent. He faces it with the calm resignation that springs from deep faith. He states that he is being poured out like sacrificial blood. He also views his death as a departure like that of sailors weighing anchor or soldiers breaking camp. Like them, Paul has completed a demanding tour of service and is now preparing to return home. Finally, employing imagery from athletic competition, he claims that he has competed well; he has finished the race. He is confident that just as God previously rescued him from peril, so God will rescue him again.

The story of the Pharisee and the tax collector is an example of divine reversal. The Pharisee is a model of religious observance. His practices of piety exceed the requirements of the law. The tax collector, despised because he is part of the economic system put in place by the occupying Romans, asks God for mercy. He stands at a distance, not raising his eyes to heaven. The tax collector prays that his sins be expiated, and his prayer is answered. The Pharisee asks for nothing, and he receives nothing. The men’s lives may have been the reverse of each other, but the judgment of Jesus exposes the real reversal.

Jan 06 2025

Scripture Study for

Many people have been troubled by the thought that God actually directed aggressive military behavior. However, since the Israelites believed that they were God’s special people, they also looked upon their enemies as God’s enemies. In fighting their own battles they would be fighting God’s battles. The support that Moses gets from Aaron and Hur is probably symbolic. Though Joshua and his selected companions ultimately put the Amalekites to the sword, it was really the prayer of Moses that wins the battle. However, Joshua’s involvement in this victory established him as a trustworthy leader for the future.

Paul expounds on the excellence of the sacred scriptures (holy writings) and their usefulness in the lives of Christians. Timothy is reminded of those teachers from whom he learned the message of the scriptures, namely his mother, Eunice; his grandmother Lois; and more recently, Paul himself. Loyalty to his teachers is one reason for Timothy’s own faithfulness to the teaching of the scriptures. Paul believed that all scripture was inspired by God and that it played a very important role in the lives of believers. Having expounded on the glories of the sacred scriptures, he solemnly charges Timothy to remain faithful to his ministerial responsibilities.

Jesus draws a very sharp contrast between a judge and a widow who comes to that judge for justice. The judge is described as fearing neither God nor human beings. By his own admission, he is devoid of such devotion. On the other hand, the woman is a widow, a member of one of the most oppressed classes in Israelite society. Though vulnerable, she is bold, a real match for the judge. He will not give in; she will not give up. The persistence of the woman becomes the model Jesus uses to describe the resoluteness required of God’s chosen ones. Like the woman, they do not know when God will respond to their pleas, and so they must persist.

Jan 06 2025

Scripture Study for

The story about Naaman focuses on healing, gratitude, conversion, and worship. His cure was clearly miraculous; all he had to do was submit himself to the ritual that Elisha prescribed. This cure champions monotheism and universalism. Naaman may have needed a miracle to recognize the universal power of the God of Israel, but recognize it he did! Something else makes this story exceptional. Though there were many people suffering from leprosy in Israel, God chose to heal a foreigner. This divine act demonstrates God’s love and concern for all, Israelite and non-Israelite alike.

Paul writes from prison, making his appeal to Timothy even more poignant. He exhorts his disciple to remember what is at the heart of the gospel that Paul has preached. The kind of remembering of which he speaks is a way of witnessing to the authenticity of what is remembered. In this case, it points to a twofold truth: Jesus Christ is raised from the dead and he is a descendant of David. The agony and indignity that Paul bears in his imprisonment are seen by him as a share in the “birth pangs of the messiah,” that necessary suffering that will precede the birth of the reign of God.

The Gospel narrative echoes the story recounted in the first reading. It is the story of a foreigner who suffered the pain and indignities of leprosy, was cured by the power of God, and returned to give thanks. He, along with his companions, had recognized Jesus earlier and had hoped for a cure. They all believed that Jesus had the power to heal them and they all went off to show themselves to the priests. What made this man unique was his gratitude. Furthermore, it was a Samaritan, one who was despised by the Jews, who showed gratitude to the Jewish wonder-worker. Jesus made this point quite clearly. Once again the last (a Samaritan) will be first (held up as an example).

Jan 06 2025

Scripture Study for

The circumstances within which Habakkuk finds himself are overwhelming: violence, ruin, misery, and destruction. He faces strife and discord. It seems to be more than he can handle, and so he cries out to God: Why? Why do I have to be a witness to all of this desolation, especially since you do not seem to be open to my call for help? Finally, God responds with a vision, not an answer. Without telling the prophet why he has had to carry the burden of suffering or how long he will have to wait, God instructs him that the righteous wait in faith.

Paul appeals to Timothy to be courageous in the face of hardship. He admonishes Timothy to renew his zeal, to be unashamed of the gospel that he preaches, to bear his share of suffering, to adhere to Paul’s teaching, and to safeguard it. Paul is aware of the risk that one takes in publicly professing faith in Jesus Christ. There is a stigma attached to such bold testimony. Despite this, Timothy should be willing to accept and to embrace the suffering that will inevitably befall him as a minister of the gospel. Nothing should undermine Timothy’s confidence, for he can be strong with the strength that comes from God.

Two independent sayings constitute the Gospel reading: the power of faith and the responsibilities of discipleship. Jesus’ attitude is so different from that of the apostles. They ask for an increase of faith; Jesus speaks about its nature. They are interested in quantity; Jesus is concerned about quality. Using the image of a household staff, he insists that though it is relatively small, it is still expected to perform several tasks—plowing, tending sheep, preparing food, and serving at table. The householder might appear unreasonable, but the story is not about being considerate. This is a teaching about the obligations of the one serving, not of the one being served.

Jan 06 2025

Scripture Study for

The prophet Amos does not denounce wealth itself, but the complacency that often accompanies it. He is distressed because the affluent entertain themselves with wantonness while the social structure of the northern kingdom of Israel disintegrates. He censures the habit of self-indulgence at feasts. The wealthy dine on the meat of lambs and calves, the very animals that were used for sacrifice. Their fastidious tastes expose their arrogance. Perhaps the most excessive example of dissolute dining is their manner of drinking wine. Not content to sip from goblets, they guzzle from wide-mouthed bowls. One can only imagine the result of such drinking.

Paul’s address to Timothy contains a fourfold message. He exhorts him to pursue virtue, to fight for the faith, to grasp eternal life, and to keep the commandments. While these are responsibilities of all Christians, Paul expects that Timothy will fulfill them in ways that reflect his pastoral office. He employs an image from athletic competition in order to illustrate the struggle that being faithful often entails. The prize that Paul has in mind is eternal life. Underscoring the seriousness of his admonitions, he charges Timothy, before God and before Christ, to obey the commandments in anticipation of Christ’s glorious manifestation.

The Gospel paints a picture of radical reversals. The man who was treated as a castoff enjoys the bliss of heaven, while the one who savored life’s pleasures ends up in great torment in the netherworld. The reversal of the rich man’s fortune was not the consequence of the lack of moral rectitude; it resulted from his indifference to the needs of the covenant brother who lay at the gate of his home. When he asked that Lazarus be sent to warn his brothers to change their way of life (metánoia), he was told that if they did not heed the religious tradition that charged the wealthy to meet the needs of the poor, they would not listen to a resurrected Lazarus.