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Commentary on Mark 3:31-35

We know that many of Jesus’ family already thought he was mad, and he had become an embarrassment to them. Now they come to the house where Jesus is teaching and, standing outside, send in a message asking for him. Do they want to talk with him or to remove him from what he is doing?

The message is sent in:

Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.

To which Jesus replies:

Who are my mother and my brothers?

And pointing to those sitting at his feet listening to his teaching, he says:

Here are my mother and my brothers!

And he clarifies that further by adding:

Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.

We should note that Jesus’ family is described twice as being on the ‘outside’. They are ‘outsiders’. By implication, those sitting in a circle with Jesus are on the ‘inside’—they are the ‘insiders’.

What Jesus is clearly saying is that being on the ‘inside’ is not just a question of location, but of relationship. That relationship is not by blood, but by identification with the Way of Jesus. To be a Christian is to enter into a new family, with stronger ties than those of blood, and where everyone is seen as a brother or a sister. The ‘insider’ is defined simply as anyone “who does the will of God”. So, it can include those who are not Christian at all.

A disturbing question that might arise from this passage is the status of Jesus’ mother, Mary. Was she also on the ‘outside’? The answer is an unequivocal no! We know from Luke’s Gospel that, when invited by the angel to be the mother of Jesus, Mary gave an unconditional ‘Yes’.

Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word. (Luke 1:38)

This was her total surrender to the will of God, and it was something that she never withdrew through all the difficulties she experienced and, most of all, when the “sword of sorrow” pierced her heart as she saw her own Son’s heart pierced on the Cross. She was with him to the very end, and finally would share his joy in the Resurrection.

On one occasion, when Mary was praised as blessed and privileged for having a Son like Jesus, Jesus replied:

Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it! (Luke 11:27-28)

Mary is on the ‘inside’, not because she was the mother of Jesus, but because of her totally identifying with his mission and being with him to the very end. May we be able to say the same.

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Commentary on Mark 4:1-20

Today we see Jesus teaching by the seashore. The crowds were so great that Jesus had to use one of his disciples’ boats and preach from there.  Generally speaking, Jesus teaches the crowds near the sea, but when teaching his disciples, he tends to go to a mountain or secluded place.

For the first time in Mark, we come across a number of parables spoken by Jesus.  Before we go on to discuss the parable in today’s passage, let us make a few remarks about parables in general.   In the New Testament the word ‘parable’ represents a wide range of literary forms.  In general, however, it can be said that a parable is a way of illustrating a point of Jesus’ teaching through an illustration from daily life.  Sometimes there may be an exaggerated element only to make the point of the parable more striking.

Strictly speaking, the difference between a parable and an allegory is that the former just makes one point using a comparison, while in the latter each of the items in the story has a symbolism of its own.   Generally speaking, Jesus’ parables were of the first kind, but allegory cannot always be excluded.  We will see that today’s parable of the sower  is a parable in the strict sense, but when Jesus explains the parable to his disciples it is made to look more like an allegory.  That said, this is not a point to argue about.

The parable of the sower, as presented here, is in three parts.  The first part seems to be close to what Jesus actually said and, like most parables, just makes one point.  That point is that God’s sowing represents his plan to build the Kingdom and to make his reign effective in the world. Although it may seem to meet with partial or total failure in some areas, overall it will certainly succeed.  God’s plans will not be frustrated.

It is a parable to induce confidence, especially for a tiny Church in times of difficulty and persecution (which Mark’s Church would have been experiencing). The parable concludes with the call:

If you have ears to hear, then hear!

Listening is a very important element in our relationship with God and Jesus.  In the gospel, listening involves:

• actually hearing the message,
• understanding the message,
• assimilating the message into one’s own thinking, and…

Once we have reached the third stage, the fourth and final stage will inevitably follow:

• acting on the message.

Once a way of seeing life becomes part of us, then we will want to behave accordingly.  We will not have to force ourselves to act.  This is the freedom that comes with being one with Christ and his Way.

The next part of the passage may seem strange.  It seems to say that Jesus spoke in parables so that those outside his own circle would not be able to understand.  That does not really make sense.  Was his message not for all?  In fact, Jesus is quoting a rather cynical passage from the Hebrew (Old) Testament about people who keep looking, but never see and keep listening, but never hear (see Is 6:9-10).  Why? Because if they did see and understand, they might be converted and change, but they do not want to be converted or to change.  They have already made up their minds.  We certainly meet people like that today.

In fact, the parables, using graphic images from familiar scenes in daily life, were spoken precisely to help people understand the message of Jesus.  But as we have seen, there were those who simply did not want to see even the obvious.

Finally, there is another interpretation of the parable in response to a request by the disciples for an explanation. The explanation somewhat changes the emphasis on the parable itself and it becomes more an allegory than a parable. In the original parable the emphasis is really on the Sower, i.e. God, and the ultimate success of his work.

In this alternate interpretation, the emphasis is on the soil in which the seed is trying to grow. It describes different responses to the Word of God (the seed).  We have to realise first that, in Palestine at this time, the sowing took place before the ploughing.  Then we need to visualise a rock-strewn field lying fallow since the last harvest.  There are public paths going across it.  Weeds and brambles have grown up in parts.   This is where the farmer will scatter his seed.

Some seed falls on the barren paths.  It gets no welcome and never even begins to grow.  Birds come and eat it up.  This refers to those who come in contact with the message of Jesus, but it never even gets a start in their lives.

Some falls on the rocks, where in the crevices there may be some moisture.  Though the seed begins to grow, it soon runs out of moisture and nourishment, and it withers and dies.  This soil is compared to those who embrace Christianity with enthusiasm, but once they meet with some opposition or persecution (which would have been common in the early Church), they fall away.

Some seed falls among the weeds and brambles. It takes root, but the weeds are growing too, and they eventually choke out the wheat.  This is a picture of the Christian who gets caught up in the prevailing (materialistic) values of the surrounding society and ends up producing nothing.

Finally, there is seed which falls on fertile soil and yields a good harvest in varying amounts.  These are the Christians who really ‘hear’ the word (see above) and produce much fruit.

Notice that to be a Christian, it is not enough just to be fervent and observant, but one also must be productive:

…every good tree bears good fruit…Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
(Matt 7:17,19)

Perhaps we may reflect today which of the above categories best describes us.

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Commentary on Mark 4:21-25

We are still with Mark’s Gospel in a section of parables and images.  Today we see a number of disparate sayings.

No one lights a lamp and then covers it up.  Our Christian faith is a light for the world and not to be kept hidden. Our message is not meant to be kept secret, but to be broadcast and shared.  How many know that we are Christians?  How many see us practise our faith openly?  How many are influenced by our living according to the Christian vision?  Our faith, our knowledge of Jesus and his gospel, is not something private to be kept to ourselves.

A ‘good’ Catholic is not just one who keeps all the Commandments, goes often to Mass and stays in the ‘state of grace’, but rather ‘good’ Catholics are those who radiate their faith, share it generously with others and very much want others to have the same experience of loving and being loved by God as they have. If we are not seen to be Christians we have somehow failed, no matter how good our inner lives may be. To be a Christian is not just to be a good person, but an apostle, an evangeliser, a sharer of faith by word and action.

What we give out to others is what we ourselves will receive—and even more:

For to those who have, more will be given, and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.

That is what happened to the man who buried his master’s money in the ground so as not to lose it.  Those who invested it got even more in return.  In the Christian life, we gain by giving, not by getting.  It is only when we give that we can get, and when everyone gives, everyone gets.

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Commentary on Mark 4:26-34

Here we have the two last parables told by Mark in this part of his Gospel.  They are both images of the Kingdom of God, of God’s truth and love spreading among people all over the world.  They are both taken from the world of agriculture, a world that would have been very familiar to Jesus’ listeners.

In the first parable, God’s work is compared to a farmer planting seed.  As in the parable of the Sower, the seed is the Kingdom.  Night and day, the process of growth continues without any human intervention.  Whether the farmer is awake or asleep, the process of growth continues.  The seed sprouts and grows and the farmer does not know how.  The outcome is certain. Once the seed is ripe, it is for the farmer to bring in the harvest.  And that is our task—to bring in the harvest which has been planted in the hearts of people.  In the words of the other parables, it is up to us to shine the light which helps people see the truth and love of God already present in their deepest being.

In the second parable, the Kingdom is compared to a mustard seed.  Although one of the tiniest of seeds, it grows into a sizeable shrub in which even birds can build their nests.

Both of these parables are words of encouragement to a struggling Church living in small scattered communities and surrounded by hostile elements ready to destroy it.  How amazed would the Christians of those days be if they could see how the seed has grown and spread to parts of the world of whose very existence they were totally unaware! Today, we still need to have trust like theirs, and confidence in the power of the Kingdom to survive and spread.

Mark says that Jesus spoke many parables, or even that he spoke only in parables.  But the full meaning of his teaching was explained to his inner circles of disciples. Those staying ‘outside’ were not ready to take in the message.  They are the ones who were not ‘hearing’, as Jesus told his disciples to do.  How sensitive is my hearing?

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Commentary on Mark 4:35-41

After the passage on the parables, Mark continues by narrating four miracle stories, two of them put together in an ‘inclusion’. There are two messages in today’s story of the calming of the storm at sea.

The first is that the calming of the sea indicates the true identity of Jesus; he has the power of God himself.  This question of Jesus’ identity is a major theme of Mark’s Gospel.

He speaks to the sea as if it were a living thing, an instrument of the devil, an evil thing. No wonder that the disciples are filled with awe.  Their question contains its own answer:

Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

This is clear from passages in the Old Testament, especially in the Psalms:

• You silence the roaring of the seas,
  the roaring of their waves… (Ps 65:7)
• You rule the raging of the sea…
  when its waves rise, you still them. (Ps 89:9)
• More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters,
  more majestic than the waves of the sea… (Ps 93:4)
• …he made the storm be still,
  and the waves of the sea were hushed. (Ps 107:29)

The second message lies in the symbolism underlying the whole story. It is a story of the early Church.  The boat represents a church community (our Church is a community of churches). The surrounding sea is the world.  Jesus gets into the boat “just as he was”, that is, a man looking no different from his disciples. There were other boats too. That is, other church communities. Then a violent storm arises and waves threaten to swamp the boat and sink it. This is just what was happening to so many little communities surrounded by hostile elements bent on wiping out the Christian faith.

Where was Jesus during all this?  Asleep!  Not in the least worried.  The disciples scold him:

Teacher [not yet Lord], do you not care that we are perishing?

How often that complaint must have risen from those tiny, battered communities wondering where their Lord was in all their troubles!  Jesus wakes up and:

…he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Be silent! Be still!”

And calm returns.

Now his disciples are scolded:

Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?

That is, why do they not trust in Jesus’ caring for them.  Of course, the real calm is not so much in the sea as it is in their hearts when they realise that Jesus is not far away, not asleep or absent, but is with them all the time.

Let us pray for that inner peace that comes from knowing Jesus is always very close to us, no matter what may be going on in our lives.

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Commentary on Luke 15:1-3,11-32

The parable of the Prodigal Son is a marvellous revelation of God’s unending love and mercy for the repentant sinner. In the story, the son demands and receives his share of the inheritance from a loving father. Asking for his inheritance while his father was still alive was tantamount to saying he could not wait until his father had died.

He then goes off to a far country, far from his father. He is not only far away in distance, but also in thinking. He wastes the inheritance he has been given on pleasures and enjoyment of the most immoral kind. And in the end, he has nothing.

When a famine strikes the place he is living, he has nothing to eat and no money to buy food. He is forced (horror of horrors for a Jew) to feed pigs, and is so hungry he is ready even to eat the slops given to them. One can hardly imagine a lower level of abasement and poverty.

But then, he comes to his senses. He thinks of the home and the loving father he abandoned so stupidly—a home where the lowest servants and the slaves are better off than he is, and he decides he will try to go home. But after what he has done, he does not expect to be accepted back. He decides he will beg to be taken in as one of the lowest servants, and he prepares a carefully worded speech for his father.

Then he starts the journey back in fear and trepidation, knowing he deserves very severe treatment, if not outright rejection. He is afraid to hear his father say, “Go back to your pigs and your whores!”

But while still far away, his father sees him. Unknown to the son, his father has been anxiously waiting and hoping during all this time for him to return, but he never sent out to have him brought back. If the son wants to go his own way, the father will not stop him, and he will not force him to come back.

Full of compassion, the father rushes out to welcome his returning son and takes him in his arms. The son tries to make his speech of repentance, but it is totally ignored. Instead, his father gives orders for the best clothes to be brought out and a magnificent banquet to be laid on:

…for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!

It is a time for celebration.

The elder son, working in the fields (the Lord’s vineyard) comes back at the end of a hard day and hears the sounds of merrymaking. When he is told what is going on, he becomes extremely angry. After all, he has been a loyal, faithful, hard-working son and nothing even approaching this was ever done for him. Yet his brother, who was steeped in debauchery and wasted so much of his father’s wealth, is welcomed like a returning hero.

Because of this, the elder son refuses to go into his father’s house (surely some of the saddest words in this story). The father remonstrates, saying:

…you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But…this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.

We have to celebrate, says the father.

The story is a clear reply to the criticism of the scribes and Pharisees that Jesus was mixing and eating with sinners. They simply did not understand the mind of God as revealed in Jesus’ behaviour. How well do we understand?

The two clear lessons from today’s Gospel are:

• I can be absolutely sure of God’s mercy and forgiveness, provided I turn back to him in true sorrow;
• I need to have the same attitude of compassion with people who offend me. I must be ready to forgive and be reconciled. I cannot refuse to love someone that God loves.

There are three people in this story and we can identify with all of them:

• The son who went far from his Father and followed his own way into the most degrading behaviour.
• The son who thought he was good and observant, but deep down, did not have the mind of his Father at all. He kept the commandments and all the rules, but did not have a forgiving heart.
• The Father whose love never changes no matter what his children do, and is ready to accept them back every time without exception.

Which of these three most represents me? Which one would I want to be like? Many say they identify most with the elder son—which of course is the point of the story. They are the real sinners who shut their hearts against God’s compassionate love. The parable does not tell us what the elder son ultimately decides. What would we do?

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Commentary on Sirach 1:1-10

Today we begin reading the book of Sirach, and we will be with it for the coming two weeks. It is one of the so-called deutero-canonical books and is not part of the Jewish canon, nor recognised by many Protestant churches. In older bibles, and in Universalis, it is usually called the ‘Book of Ecclesiasticus’. In Greek it was known as the ‘Wisdom of Jesus Ben Sirach’, from which the current name derives. The book, which was originally written in Hebrew, dates from about 190 BC and was translated into Greek about 60 years later. It is the Greek version which we normally translate from nowadays.

It has been described as an encyclopaedia on good religion and wise living. In fact, it forms part of the Wisdom literature of the Hebrew Testament. It was used so much by the Church over the centuries that it came to be called “Ecclesiasticus”, the ‘Church Book’. The name is derived from ecclesia, the Latin for ‘church’ and ekklesia, the Greek word used in the New Testament for the Christian assembly (literally, the ‘gathering of those who are called out’).

Today, the author speaks of the mystery of wisdom. He speaks of true wisdom, namely, God’s external revelation of himself (later, in Jesus, we can see the Incarnate Wisdom of God). Throughout the book he describes in great detail just what wisdom is; sometimes it is divine; sometimes it is a synonym for God’s law; sometimes it is human. But the author makes clear that even human wisdom, properly understood, ultimately comes from God.

Today’s reading is a poem about personified wisdom as the creation of the Lord God. It combines both the hidden-ness, the inaccessibility of wisdom on the one hand, with its availability to humans, especially those whose lives are in harmony with God.

All wisdom, says the author, originates from “the Lord”, its ultimate source. The term ‘Lord’ (Kyrios) in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint) is the normal translation of Yahweh, the unspeakable name of God in Hebrew. The author of Sirach uses the term constantly, even when translating other divine titles.

Only God can grasp the enormity of our universe from end to end. Its unfathomable immensity continues to boggle our minds as we penetrate deeper and deeper into it. Only the Creator knows the number of grains of sand by the sea, or can count the drops when rain falls, or the length of eternity. Here we have the aspect of total wisdom as something unattainable, a theme which goes throughout Sirach.

The implication is that only God possesses the fullness of Wisdom. Only Someone who can understand all these things can have complete Wisdom. Such Wisdom precedes all creation and has no beginning in time. Only one Person knows the root of Wisdom, only one Person can understand its subtlest elements:

There is but one who is wise, greatly to be feared,
seated upon his throne: the Lord.

He is the Source of all Wisdom:

It is he who created her…

Here the author makes use of an architectural image. Wisdom is seen as a plan or model for creating the universe.

Here the author emphasises the uniqueness and sublime nature of God. Wisdom is a special attribute of God which is reflected in the whole of creation and is a special gift to humanity. Although it is personified with ‘she’ here and in other Wisdom literature, in this work it is clearly something created and not to be identified as God. For Sirach, wisdom is in God and comes from God, but is not God. For John, in the Prologue to his Gospel, there is a somewhat different understanding: the Word was with God and the Word was God and the Word existed from all eternity.

It is God who:

…poured her [Wisdom] out upon all his works…

It is He who has passed her on to us and He who:

…lavished her upon those who love him.

He has shared his Wisdom with all creation. A deep study of nature reveals the Wisdom of God present everywhere. As the Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote, “the world is charged with the grandeur of God”. And God shares it in a special way with us and, most of all, with “those who love him”. There is a special wisdom for those who are deeply united with God in love and service. In fact, we can and do say, that to love God is the beginning of wisdom.

As mentioned, Wisdom here is personified as a ‘she’ and so some like to see the Spirit of God as feminine. God, of course, and the Trinity are above and inclusive of all genders and sexes. The Father is not exclusively male, nor is the ‘Son’ of God who proceeds from the ‘Father’. The Incarnate, Enfleshed Son in Jesus is male, but many would see in Jesus’ character all the best characteristics of both the masculine and the feminine—an ideal for all men and women. Our Creed says that the Second Person of the Trinity was made ‘human’ (homo)—which applies equally to male and female.

Wisdom is not a question of knowledge, although some knowledge must be a constituent element. Wisdom is the gift to be able to see the whole, and to see the inter-relatedness of all the parts. It can only come from experience and applied insight. It is not normally a characteristic of the very young or the very superficial. It is a question of looking into, not just looking at. It’s the difference between being dazzlingly knowledgeable, or perhaps very clever, but not wise.

Ultimately, to grow in Christ is to grow in wisdom. It is to grow into a deeper understanding of the meaning and direction of life. It is a gift God wishes us to have, so let us ask him for it today.

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Commentary on Sirach 2:1-11

Today’s reading from Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) consists of advice on what to do when things are going against us.

It opens with the address “My child”. This is a typical introduction for a passage of teaching in wisdom literature. It recurs here and there throughout Sirach. We might summarise today’s reading as saying that:

• Serving God is not without its trials; moreover, this service must be given with sincerity, perseverance and fidelity.
• Misfortunes and humiliations help to purify people and prove their worth.
• Patience and unwavering trust in God are always rewarded with the benefits of God’s compassion and result in lasting joy.

First, we are told to be ready for testing situations, which we are all bound to face at one time or another. This is a favourite Old Testament theme and also found in the Gospel and the rest of the New Testament. St Paul is eloquent on this, not least when speaking of his own experience (see 2 Cor 11:21, the beginning of the readings for Friday and Saturday of Week 11 of Ordinary Time).

In order to be ready for such times, we should make sure that our heart is focused on God’s will in our lives, and that we are firm and consistent. At the same time, we ought not react impetuously when things go badly wrong. That is a time for reflection and discernment. By staying close to God, we can ensure that our “last days may be prosperous”. Concerning this we mean not just in the material sense, but in being genuinely enriched in those areas of our life where it really counts.

Without being fatalistic, we need to meet positively whatever happens to us, and in times when we feel belittled, to practice patience:

For gold is tested in the fire,
and those found acceptable, in the furnace of humiliation.

What, at the time, may seem to be painful and destructive experiences can be a source of strengthening and maturing if undergone in the right frame of mind.

Second, we are advised to stay close to God, who will give us strength, and to face up to realities which cannot be avoided. On the one hand, we put our trust in God and in his help. We do our best to live upright lives and put our hope in God’s care for us. But escaping from reality is not going to provide a solution.

You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy;
do not stray, or else you may fall.
You who fear the Lord, trust in him,
and your reward will not be lost.
You who fear the Lord, hope for good things,
for lasting joy and mercy.

These are the qualities of those who “fear the Lord”. ‘Fear’ here does not mean ‘being afraid’, but rather submitting ourselves in deep reverence to a God who is so far beyond anything we can imagine. This God, awesome though he is, is a source of compassion, worthy of our trust and hope, and the ultimate source of joy and happiness.

For those who are close to God and accept his truth, humiliation by other people is purely an external experience. As the song says, “they can’t take away my dignity”, no matter what insults or degradations they throw at me.

Sirach advises that we:

Consider the generations of old and see…

He is speaking of those among our predecessors who followed the advice given here. Sirach gives many examples in chapters 44-50.

And he goes on to ask:

Has anyone trusted in the Lord and been disappointed?
Or has anyone persevered in the fear of the Lord and been forsaken?

These questions can only be answered by direct experience, but there is abundant evidence from the lives of the saints and other servants of God that the answer to all these questions is a resounding ‘No’.

And, if we do fail in our service of God, let us remember that:

the Lord is compassionate and merciful;
he forgives sins and saves in time of distress.

The Lord’s compassion and his saving his people in time of trouble is a common theme in the Psalms and the prophets. And it confirmed again and again in the life of Jesus, and proved forever by his dying on the cross in the greatest act of love that anyone could do for others. Perhaps, in addition to being confident of God’s compassion for our sins and weaknesses, we might try to show the same compassion for those who “offend” us.

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Commentary on Sirach 4:11-19

Today’s passage deals with Wisdom, personified as an educator:

Wisdom teaches her children
and takes hold of those who seek her.

There then follows a series of comments about the qualities and effects of Wisdom in people’s lives. The precious fruits of Wisdom—life, favour, blessings and God’s love—are intended to arouse desire for her. Whoever loves her loves life, and those who wait on her early will be filled with happiness.

This will naturally happen, because it is through Wisdom that we come to a fuller understanding of what a true life is all about, and with the living out of that understanding comes happiness.

To adhere to Wisdom is to pave the way to inherit final glory:

…the Lord blesses the place she enters.

Where there is Wisdom, there is God. There is an echo here of entering the Temple, the place where God is present:

Those who serve her minister to the Holy One;
the Lord loves those who love her.

In a similar context, her disciples are like priests, who enter into the holy places of the Temple to find God. For God himself is the source of all Wisdom; there is only one Truth. As we come closer to that truth we come close to God:

Whoever obeys her will judge the nations,
and whoever listens to her will live securely.

Wisdom’s adherents are like judges. True wisdom gives one criteria by which to evaluate the world around one, and those who “listen to her” will experience a sense of security. They have a sense that they are in the right place and doing the right things.

People who remain faithful to God’s call—especially as it comes to us through the Word of God—will continually seek to open themselves to receive Wisdom and be enriched by it. Seekers of Wisdom are here seen as faithful marriage partners, who open themselves fully to each other.  And what they learn will be passed on to those who come after. Thanks to our forebears, we are indeed the recipients of centuries of Wisdom passed on to us.

However, there is another dimension to Wisdom which we should be ready for. In our search for the truth, there is no guarantee of an easy life:

For at first she will walk with them in disguise;
she will bring fear and dread upon them
and will torment them by her discipline…

Indeed, it is often through the most painful and frightening experiences of life as we come face to face with failure, disappointment, sickness and death, that we gradually grow into real wisdom about the most important things in life.

On the other hand, to go our own way and to abandon the search for Wisdom and wisdom is to give up the search for truth and the way of love. There is no future there—only self-destruction.

As we said before, the acquisition of wisdom does not just come from the piling up of knowledge and information. It does not require a high level of literacy. Even the most illiterate person can be steeped in wisdom. The greatest teacher of wisdom is our immersion in life and in finding God’s Truth, Goodness and Beauty embedded in every experience of life, even the most painful.

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Commentary on Sirach 5:1-8

The passage speaks of our attitudes to wealth, power and false confidence and consists of a number of distinct pieces of advice on how we should behave. It comes from the first part of a 22-line poetic arrangement of warnings on the disastrous consequences of false presumptions, wrong speech and shameful behaviour. It is particularly directed against the evils of the rich, which tend to pride and a sense of independence, presumption, false security and no regrets for what they do. People who behave in this way are playing a very dangerous game.

The passage begins:

Do not rely on your wealth
or say, “I have enough.”

There are some who believe that with wealth they can get or have anything, or that wealth will give them power to control and manipulate others. Money alone is never enough. Having money has little to do with wisdom or happiness.

Do not follow your inclination and strength
in pursuing the desires of your heart.

The “desires of our heart” can lead us very far astray and bring about our own self-destruction. Pleasure and happiness are two very different things.

Do not say, “Who can have power over me?”
for the Lord will surely punish you.

Wealth can give one a sense of total self-sufficiency, a belief that with money one can get anything one wants, and that one is answerable to no one. And yet, the rich person is, in many respects, just as vulnerable as one who is materially destitute. A tiny blood clot in the wrong place can bring a sudden end to everything. The ultimate life decisions are never ours.

Do not say, “I sinned, yet what has happened to me?”
for the Lord is slow to anger.

One may be very aware of leading a life which is immoral and unjust, but nothing bad has happened so one keeps acting immorally. That is because “the Lord is slow to anger”. This phrase comes from the time the Israelites rebelled against God at Mount Sinai. But instead of punishing them, Yahweh gave them a second chance and told them:

The Lord, the Lord,
a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin… (Exod 34:6-7)

God’s bias is towards forgiveness and mercy, but there is a limit. In the end, sin and immorality will have to be paid for. The unrepentant wrongdoers put themselves outside God’s mercy.

Do not be so confident of forgiveness
that you add sin to sins.

This is similar to the previous injunction. We can be sure of God’s forgiveness when we repent, but it never justifies our deliberately continuing to act in ways that are evil and immoral, like someone who says he will continue his sinful life, but will make a ‘good confession’ at the end. Once aware of behaving in ways that are in disharmony with the Way shown to us by Jesus, we must abandon such behaviour now.

Do not say, “His mercy is great;
he will forgive the multitude of my sins,”
for both mercy and wrath are with him,
and his anger will rest on sinners.

This is another similar warning. Yes, God’s mercy is great and his forgiveness is always there for us, but as long as we are turned away from him, we close the door on that mercy and forgiveness. The Prodigal Son could only be reconciled when he came to his senses and turned back to his Father.

Do not delay to turn back to the Lord,
and do not postpone it from day to day,
for suddenly the wrath of the Lord will come forth,
and at the time of punishment you will perish.

Repentance must follow immediately on our awareness of going the wrong way. If God comes for us and we are facing in the wrong direction, knowingly doing what we know to be very wrong, we may hear those terrible words:

Truly I tell you, I do not know you. (Matt 25:12)

And, of course, we do not know when he will come for us. But we do know that it can happen very suddenly and to anyone.

Finally, the passage says:

Do not rely on dishonest wealth,
for it will not benefit you on the day of calamity.

Immorally acquired wealth may get us far in the world of business and the world of expensive indulgence, but it will do nothing for us on the day we hear the final call. We remember Jesus’ parable about the rich fool, who felt so rich that he could put his feet up and have a long life of enjoyment ahead of him (Luke 12:13-21). How wrong he was! All that matters is here and now to find, to recognise and to serve Jesus in every other person, especially those in need of any kind.