25th SUNDAY YEAR B
Wisdom 2:12.17-20, Ps. 54, James 3:16-4:3, Mark 9:30-37
The book of Wisdom, written in Greek for Jews in the diaspora, and not kept as part of the Hebrew writings included in Scripture at Palestine, contrasts wisdom with folly, as the included writings such as Psalms, Song of Songs, Proverbs and so on, do. Wisdom on the part of people lies in keeping the word of the Lord, his commandments, his promises, always in mind and in will, and especially in action. Folly is forgetting the word of the Lord and walking willy-nilly over the lives of people, especially the poor, as if the Lord did not exist at all. In our first reading, we get the feel of the triumph of folly over wisdom, a much considered matter in the wisdom books. I should add the apparent triumph of folly. The wise person, who keeps the word of the Lord, is set up for failure and doom by the foolish through ridicule and suffering and persecution. This makes it look like folly has won the day. Not so, says the witness of the whole of Sacred Scripture.
For even if the proud, who have no regard for God, rise against me and seek my life, the Lord upholds my life, sings the wise one in Responsorial Psalm 54. The wise bring their suffering to God with willing heart and praise for God’s name. For in that name will they be saved. The Christian adds with gladness, “amen!” for the name of Jesus means, “God saves.”
Wisdom goes deep, as the second reading from the letter of James shows, since it comes from God. Its results, besides suffering and sacrifice, are peace, kindness, considering others, doing good, all of which are, ultimately, fruits of holiness. Holiness is a characteristic of God. See how close to God is the one who keeps the word of the Lord? So close that anyone who follows the Lord, who is the light of the world, will have the same light, as the gospel acclamation from John proclaims. As it says in Revelation, that other Johannine writing at the end of Sacred Scriptures, “it will never be night again and they will not need lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will be shining on them.” The astounding vision John sees comes right after that: “They will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).
Truth is, wisdom brings greatness, but not the kind that we know and seek for in this world, as Jesus makes clear in the gospel. There is greatness in suffering, the kind that he will go through because not only is he a keeper of the word of the Lord, he is the word of the Lord. There is little understanding for that, since the greatness we know hereabouts, is so immediate and so grand. There is no greatness in suffering, especially on behalf of others, and there is no greatness in being the last and the least of all. What did Jesus say in John’s gospel? When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself. So that they may be where I am. Again, the promise of real greatness for the keeper of the word, the wise person.
St. Therese of the Child Jesus sought greatness too. She had imagined it in being a missionary in faraway lands. She learnt, eventually, that greatness lies in nothingness, like a grain of sand on the beach, so that the Spirit will blow her where God wants her to be. With our Mother, we say today and always, “My spirit magnifies the Lord, for he looks on his servant in her lowliness.”