ordinary time The Sánchez Archives

EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Year C

By
Patricia Datchuck Sánchez

Building the Community of Faith

Sirach 27:4-7
1 Corinthians 15:54-58
Luke 6:39-45

In the scales of interpersonal relationships, duplicity, arrogance and egotism will be outweighed by integrity, humility and true mutual concern (Sirach). These qualities create disciples and build community (Luke). These qualities defeat death and prepare for immortality (1 Corinthians).

Sirach 27:4-7

When archaeologists were excavating at Qumran in 1947, they found a few fragments of the book we call Sirach. Seventeen years later, in 1964, similar excavations of the fortress-city of Masada yielded an entire copy of this work. In an ancient synagogue unearthed at Cairo, another copy of Sirach was found. All of these discoveries attest to the popularity among Jews of the wisdom of Jesus Ben Sirach even though his work was not accepted into their official canon of scripture.

Writing in Hebrew ca. 180 B.C.E., the scholarly and astute author sought to answer the needs of his people in their struggle to maintain their ancient and treasured traditions over and against the pervading influence of Greek culture. Underscoring the fact that all lovers of wisdom (philosophers) would find the source of their predilection only in Israel, Sirach extolled the law and its virtues. Wisdom will be discovered, he taught, not in abstract speculation, but in the well-lived life of one who fears the Lord.

Two generations later (ca. 130 B.C.E.) the author’s grandson translated his grandfather’s work into Greek to make its insights readily available to Greek-speaking Jews. Among the early Christians, this second century B.C.E. anthology of wit, wisdom and practical advice was also popular, as is evidenced by its Greek name: “Ecclesiasticus” or “Book of the Church.”

Today’s first reading belongs to a longer section (26:19-27:21) concerning integrity and friendship and the dangers that militate against these values. Excellent advice for choosing proper companions, today’s text points to a person’s speech as a gauge of inner virtue. The image of the sieve and husks is borrowed from the grain harvesting process. Once the grain has been threshed, it is run through a sieve. While the grain falls through, the husks (the Greek word kopria means refuse) are left behind, ready to be discarded.

With this graphic image, the author of Sirach compared what happens when a person begins to speak. Whereas there may have been a doubt as to the character of persons when they are silent, all doubts are dispelled when the inner aspect of persons is revealed in open oratory. Sound advice in any age, Sirach’s wisdom was repeated by the 19th century author, Mary Ann Evans Cross (better known as George Eliot) when she >wrote,“Blessed is the man, who having nothing >to say, abstains from giving wordy evidence of the fact.”

In our times, we need only recall the temerity of some political candidates when challenged to a public debate of the issues. How many elections have been won and/or lost simply because of the power of the spoken word to reveal the integrity (or lack of it) of an individual?

An excellent preview for today’s gospel, the Sirach text reminds the critical to think before they speak because what comes out of one’s mouth reveals the heart.

1 Corinthians 15:54-58

In her excellent book, Resurrection: New Testament Witness and Contemporary Reflection, Pheme Perkins has commented on the power death can wield over those who do not believe, and of the effects that power can have on society. People, stated Perkins, cannot engage in the struggle for justice and transformation if they remain in psychological bondage to the powers of death. Only those who are neither cynical nor afraid can be counted on to persist in the quest for a truly just and human world. When Paul called the Corinthian Christians to affirm their faith in the power of Jesus over death, i.e. in the resurrection, he challenged them to affirm as well their freedom from death, from sin and from the law. He also challenged them to exercise their freedom “fully engaged in the work of the Lord” (v. 58).

The conclusion of Paul’s discourse on the implications of Jesus’ resurrection for all who believe (I Corinthians 15), today’s second reading treats of the manner in which the faithful will experience immortality. Whereas others in Corinth understood that an “ideal” existence could be attained by divesting oneself of the body and all that it entailed, Paul spoke of the transformation of “the corruptible frame” unto incorruptibility. By so doing and by referring to the transformation into a “spiritual body” (15:43). he maintained the continuity between the believer here and now and the believer in his/her future existence.

Moreover, while some Corinthian teachers and philosophers held that the attainment of the “ideal” existence or salvation from this world could be accomplished by the individual, Paul taught that the transformation to immortality has been made possible for all only because of Jesus Christ. His death on the cross and his rising have accomplished the victory over death. In his proclamation of this victory, Paul declared that both Hosea 13:14 and Isaiah 25:8 had been fulfilled (v. 55). Then, because he always linked death to sin and the law, Paul launched into an aside (v. 56), explaining the connection between the three entities.

Echoing the same reasoning he included in his letter to the church at Galatia, Paul explained that the law has revealed the will of God to humanity. Yet, the law did not empower humankind with the capacity for keeping it; therefore the law exacerbated human sinfulness and buried humanity deeper and deeper in the snares of death. Only Jesus Christ and his victory over death has broken this repetitive and vicious cycle, freeing those who believe >from sin and the law (Romans 6:17-18,7:7) and from death (Colossians 2:13).

In the final verses of this difficult text, Paul challenged all who enjoy the victory of Jesus over death to manifest their sincere gratitude in steadfastness and perseverance (vv. 57-58). >H. Conzelman has pointed out that the term for steadfastness or immovability (amentakinetos) is a unique occurrence in the New Testament and probably reflects a spirituality influenced by Platonism.

Whereas the Platonists held that this steadfastness was attained by withdrawing from the ever-changing world of the senses, Paul taught that those who persevered in the way of Christ could achieve steadfastness. By this assertion, Paul underscored the idea that the Christian life is the locus in this world where the power of the resurrection is made manifest. This notion of realized eschatology would be further developed by the fourth evangelist.

Luke 6:39-45

“What you are speaks so loudly, I cannot hear what you are saying!” A few years ago this pithy statement was bandied about as people discussed the need for authenticity and integrity in relationships. Although it may have become trite and hackneyed from overuse, the point remains relevant; it is, in fact, the same point which is made in today’s gospel.

The conclusion of Luke’s version of the great sermon, today’s pericope is comprised of three separate parables that were to function as object lessons for Jesus’ disciples. All three parables are concerned with the principles that should govern the lives of the disciples. No doubt, the sayings as they are here arranged and in their given larger context reflect the situation of the Christian community of the 80s C.E.

Without the earthly Jesus to guide them and without the apostolic eyewitnesses (most, if not all, were dead) to give counsel, new Christians learned the gospel and the meaning of the Christian way of life from those who already walked it. With the light and presence of the Holy Spirit, Christians living together in community were responsible for one another--as teachers, guides and as disciplinarians. Not only by their words were they to witness to one another, but also by their works, behavior, etc. In this particular gospel, it is a matter of the Christian influence disciples should have on one another.

C. Talbert has identified the ABA structure or pattern of this pericope; the “A” texts serve to elucidate the “B” text and vice-versa. For example, the central “B” text (vv. 41-42) underscores the necessity of being self-critical and personally transformed before assuming the task of admonishing and aiding in the transformation of others. The grossly exaggerated image conjured up by the speck and plank metaphor is purposeful. L. Morris has called this a sort of burlesque humor. Imagine someone with a plank hanging out of his/her eye solicitously attempting to remove a speck from another’s eye! Preposterous! But, as Morris observes, the humor of the image should not blind us to the seriousness of the lesson,

whose point is: >Any attempt to improve others or to correct others without a prior self-critique is absurd!

“Hypocrite,” the name given in v. 42 for those who attempt to reform others without any self-involvement, is a term that has undergone quite an evolution. Initially, the word meant “one who answers.” In classical Greek, hypocrite came to mean “interpreter,” “expounder,” “orator,” and was also used to describe actors on a stage. From this latter application, it came to connote a pretender or a dissembler.

Today, as we know, hypocrite is a derogatory term for those whose actions are not consonant with their words, viz. liars, deceivers. Unfortunately, sometimes, even professed and confessing Christians earn this title for themselves. At this point, it should be noted that while the task of fraternal correction (removing specks, etc.) should not be attempted without prior self-examination, the disciple need not be completely without imperfections before the process can begin.

In the two “A” sections of today’s gospel, viz., vv.39-40 and vv. 43-45, the evangelist has expanded upon the motivation for entering into the process of mutually influencing one another for the good. In the first text (vv. 39-40), the disciples are called upon to be both guides and teachers. In order to lead a blind person, one must be sighted; in order to teach, one must be knowledgeable; otherwise the blind person and the student will be lost. The sight and the knowledge hem specified are the insight that comes through faith and the knowledge that comes from a faith-filled relationship with the Lord. To teach the ways of Jesus, to lead others in his way, the disciple must first embody the lessons. Only then will the process of speck and plank removal be a true witness to Christian charity.

Verses 43-45 represent the third parable and second “A” section. Herein the results of true discipleship and of authentic mutual influence are revealed. The logic of the text is simple. Good trees, like good people, produce good things; decayed trees and corrupt people give forth worthless and evil things. This section of the gospel comes full circle as it recalls the wisdom of Ben Sirach in today’s first reading. Just as a person’s speech (Sirach) reveals his/her mettle, so too do a person’s deeds mirror the heart and mind that prompted them.

1. Better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt (Sirach).

2. Those who do not fear death’s finality can bring joy and hope to this life (1 Corinthians).

3. It is easier to take reproof from a self-professed sinner than from a self-professed saint (Luke).

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