Sunday Reading

23^rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (Cycle C)

Readings:
Wisdom 9:13-18b
Psalm 90:3-6, 12-14, 17
Philemon 9-10, 12-17
Luke 14:25-33

Abbreviations: NJB (New Jerusalem Bible), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), NABRE (New American Bible Revised St. Joseph Edition), IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English), or LXX (Greek Septuagint Old Testament translation). CCC designates a citation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The word LORD or GOD rendered in all capital letters is, in the Hebrew text, God's Divine Name YHWH (Yahweh).

God reveals His divine plan for humanity in the two Testaments, which is why we read and relive the events of salvation history contained in the Old and New Testaments in the Church's Liturgy. The Catechism teaches that the Liturgy reveals the unfolding mystery of God's plan as we read the Old Testament in light of the New and the New Testament in light of the Old (CCC 1094-1095).

The Theme of this Sunday's Readings: Wisdom, Prudence, and the Demands of Discipleship.
Wisdom and prudence are necessary skills for maneuvering through the obstacles of life. However, one cannot capture wisdom's depths and heights from books or life's experiences. This gift comes from God and leads to prudence in one's thoughts and actions through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The First Reading and the Gospel deal with the themes of wisdom and prudence.

In the First Reading, the inspired writer tells us that through their own merits, men and women cannot attain the wisdom of God because our reasoning powers are limited. Humankind is often led astray in the pursuit of wisdom by the temptations and cares of earthly life. True wisdom is a gift of the Holy Spirit that God sends from "on high." With the miracle of the Incarnation of God the Son, we can recognize the blessings of genuine wisdom manifest in the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ. By overcoming the curse of death and having brought the gift of God's saving grace to humanity, Jesus Christ has revealed Himself as the true Wisdom of God through whom our Lord reveals Himself to the world.

The Psalm Reading calls us to reflect upon the fact that only God can provide the wisdom that allows one to make sense of human life that is short and marked by troubles and sufferings. The psalmist asks God to give His people an internal wisdom "of heart" and to "return" by revealing Himself again to His people, as He revealed Himself to the Exodus generation. The Advent of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Living Wisdom of God, fulfills the psalmist's plea for the Lord to return to an intimate relationship with His people.

In the Second Reading, St. Paul admits in his letter to Philemon that, in the wisdom of the times, slavery was a legal institution. However, while sending back Philemon's Christian slave, Paul urges him to consider their conversion to Christianity and viewing themselves as disciples of Christ, master and slave should live as brothers who serve the same Master, Jesus Christ.

In the Gospel reading, Jesus says that anyone unwilling to renounce all worldly possessions cannot become His disciple. One cannot belong to both the world and to Christ. Each person must prudently count the cost of discipleship, and they must also have the wisdom to understand that what is worldly and material is only temporary and therefore has no lasting benefit. The wisdom of making the willing sacrifice of one's life in discipleship to Jesus Christ will result in the glorious riches of eternal blessings.

The First Reading Wisdom 9:13-18 ~ The Wisdom of God
13 Who can know God's counsel, or who can conceive what the LORD intends? 14 For the deliberations of mortals are timid, and unsure are our plans. 15 For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns. 16 And scarce do we guess the things on earth, and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty; but when things are in heaven, who can search them out? 17 Or whoever knew your counsel, except you had given Wisdom and sent your Holy Spirit from on high? 18 And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight. And people have been taught what pleases you, and have been saved, by Wisdom.

Verses 13-18 conclude the survey of Wisdom presented in the Book of Wisdom chapter 9. The inspired writer describes genuine Wisdom as a gift of the Holy Spirit that God sends from Heaven (verse 17).

15 For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.
The Hebrew text reads: "this tent of clay," an image that evokes the precariousness of human existence and its limitations. On their own, humans cannot attain the Wisdom of God because their reasoning powers are limited, and the temptations and cares of earthly life often lead them astray (verses 14-15).

18b And people have been taught what pleases you, and have been saved, by Wisdom.
Verse 18b is not in the lectionary reading but completes the teaching. The Wisdom of God has the power to preserve us from both temporal and spiritual dangers. This last verse says that thanks to Wisdom, men and women can be saved because, through Wisdom, they learn to understand God's actions in salvation history and His will for their lives. Jesus Christ, the Living Word, and the Wisdom of God fulfilled this verse when He came to humanity in His mission to preach the Gospel of salvation as fully God and man. Through the words and works of Jesus, we can come to know the mystery of God.

St. Athanasius (296-373), Bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, addressed the subject of the revelation of Jesus Christ as the true Wisdom of God. He wrote: "Because God did not wish to be known any longer through the image and sign of living wisdom to be found in created things, as happened in former times, it was his will that Wisdom itself would become flesh, and that, having been made man, he would suffer death on the cross; so that in all the days to come, everyone who believed in him could be saved through their faith in the cross. In former times, the Wisdom of God stamped his seal on all created things, and the presence of his sign is the reason why we call them 'created' to reveal himself and so make his Father known. But later, this same Wisdom, who is the Word, was made flesh, as St. John says; and having overcome death and saved the human race, he revealed himself in a clearer way and, through himself, revealed the Father" (St. Athanasius, Contra arianos, 2.81-82).

Responsorial Psalm 90:3-6, 12-14, 17 ~ God is Our Eternal Refuge
The response is: "In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge."

3 You turn man back to dust, saying, "Return, O children of men." 4 For a thousand years in your sight, are as yesterday, now that it is past, or as a watch of the night.
Response:
5 You make an end of them in their sleep; 6 the next morning they are like the changing grass, which at dawn springs up anew, but by evening wilts and fades.
Response:
12 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. 13 Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants!
Response:
14 Fill us at daybreak with your kindness, that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days. [...] 17 And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours; prosper the work of our hands for us! Prosper the work of our hands!

This psalm is unique in that its superscription attributes it to Moses. In verses 3-6, the psalmist focuses on the creation of humanity, formed from the dust of the earth (Gen 2:7). The psalmist meditates on human weakness and the shortness of life, made even shorter by sin. Verses 4-6 remind us that humankind's life is fleeting, and even if they were to live for a thousand years, it would be nothing compared to God's eternity.

The awareness of human weakness leads to wisdom that Scripture refers to as "the fear of the Lord" (c.f., Ps 19:10; Prov 1:7; 15:33). The Biblical expression "fear of the LORD" means to fear of offending Yahweh upon which we place our practice of religious devotion (see Ex 20:20; Dt 6:2). It is both the basis (Prov 9:10; 15:33; Job 28:28; Ps 111:10; Sir 1:14, 20) and the crown of religious wisdom that encourages a personal, covenantal relationship with God in which fear and love, submission to His will and confidence in His promises coincide (Ps 25:12-14; 112:1; 128:1; Ecc 12:13; Sir 1:27-28; 2:7-9, 15-18; etc.).

12 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart. 13 Return, O LORD! How long? Have pity on your servants!
The writer of the Book of Proverbs tells us: For Yahweh himself is the giver of wisdom (Prov 2:6, NJB). Only God can provide the wisdom that allows one to make sense of human life that is short and marked by troubles and sufferings, and so the psalmist asks God to give His people an internal wisdom "of heart" (verse 12). He follows this first petition with a cry for the return of the Lord and a second petition for God's pity and compassion for His servants. If the psalmist is Moses, the plea for God's return recalls the Theophany of God to His people at Mt. Sinai that Moses and the children of Israel witnessed. The psalmist yearns for the intimacy of that vision of the Lord God.

14 Fill us at daybreak with your kindness, that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
In the third petition, the psalmist asks God, who in His mercy pardons man's sins, to make the lives of His people joyful.

17 And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours; prosper the work of our hands for us! Prosper the work of our hands!
In conclusion, the psalmist asks for the blessings of mercy and gladness and for the Lord to bless our time on earth in fruitful service.

The plea for the Lord to return in verse 13 finds fulfillment in the Advent of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Living Wisdom of God. Christians know that Jesus has promised a Second Advent. St. Peter quotes verse 4 of this psalm in 2 Peter 3:8 when he warns that to God, "a thousand years are like a day." St. Peter then urges Christians not to be impatient for the Second Coming of Christ, explaining that The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance (2 Pt 3:9).

The Second Reading Philemon 9-10, 12-17 ~ Disciples are Brothers in Christ
9 I, Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus, urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment. [...] 12 I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. 13 I should have liked to retain him for myself, so that he might serve me on your behalf in my imprisonment for the gospel, 14 but I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary. 15 Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, 16 no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man and in the Lord. 17 So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me.

This passage is from a short personal letter of only 25 verses that St. Paul wrote to Philemon, a Christian from Colossae (see verse 18), during Paul's first imprisonment in Rome in c. AD 62/63. Philemon was one of Paul's converts. Unlike his other letters dictated to a secretary, Paul wrote that this letter was written by his own hand (verse 19).

The letter's purpose was to inform Philemon that Paul was sending back his slave, Onesimus. One of Paul's converts, he had run away from his master to come to Paul in Rome. The letter reveals a softer side of the apostle and shows how he applies his views on slavery to this case. He tells Philemon that under the laws of society, he still owns this man; however, because of their conversion to Christianity, they should live as brothers who serve the same master, Jesus Christ.

The Gospel of Luke 14:25-33 ~ Sayings on the Commitment of Discipleship
25 Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, 26 "If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. 28 Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? 29 Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him 30 and say, 'This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.' 31 Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? 32 But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. 33 In the same way, every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.

Jesus presents a problematic teaching in this passage. One must read verse 26 in the light of His other teachings in which a commitment to love even our enemies is a requirement of discipleship (Lk 6:27). In this teaching, Jesus uses exaggeration/hyperbole ("hating") to stress the total commitment required of the men and women who take up the path of discipleship. Jesus was asking for a complete detachment from the old life that might compromise the priority of one's commitment to Jesus and His Kingdom of the Church. That degree of commitment included attachments to personal relationships and material possessions. The teaching was similar to what He taught in Luke 9:23-24 and 57-62. It also recalls His warning concerning the division He was bringing to families where some would reject His Gospel, and others embrace His promise of new life and eternal gifts (Lk 12:49-53).

Jesus gave two examples of the importance of considering the "cost" of discipleship before taking up the mission of being His disciple. He gave the example of building a tower and a king waging war, efforts that required planning and sound decisions. And then He said in Luke 14:33, "In the same way, every one of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple." In the same way that building a tower and a king waging war requires careful decision-making and strategies for success, the disciple must have wisdom and be prudent in considering anything in his old life that is a hindrance to traveling the "narrow path" and entering the "narrow door" to eternal salvation (Mt 7:13-14; Lk 13:24). Jesus's disciples must divest themselves of those things or people who would hinder their growth in faith and spiritual maturity, especially the attachment to material possessions that encourage reliance on self instead of dependence on God.

Catechism References (* indicates Scripture quoted or paraphrased in the citation):
Wisdom 9:13-18b (CCC 295*)

Philemon 16 (CCC 2414)

Luke 14:26 (CCC 1618*); 14:33 (CCC 2544)

God's transcendence (CCC 273, 300, 314)

Knowledge of God according to the Church (CCC 36*, 37-40, 41*, 42-43)

Preferring Christ to all else (CCC 2544*)

Following Christ in consecrated life (CCC 914-919, 931-932)