Tuesday of the Thirty-second Week in Ordinary Time
Anyone who has searched for a job has had the experience of writing up a resume and putting on it the things they have done. We are supposed to highlight things that make us look good. In fact, our culture often has a focus on achieving recognition – from children receiving awards for good citizenship and perfect attendance, to being recognized on the job for years of service and a job well done. It is good to recognize people for the good works they do, but the hope is that we will do the right thing even when we do not expect recognition. Today’s scriptures give us some thoughts on how to live as Jesus’ disciples and yet not to expect anything in return.
In the gospel reading (Luke 17:7-10), Jesus talks of the need for humility. The people who serve Jesus have done what he commanded – no more and no less. In other words, while what they do is good, it is not extraordinary. It is exactly what we are called to do as Jesus’ disciples. So we should see the things we do in service to God and other people not as great things for which we deserve special recognition. What Jesus calls us to do cannot really be done on our own strength. We do only what we are “obliged to do.” God gives us the grace to do things that serve others, and so even the good we think we do comes from God.
The first reading (Wisdom 2:23-3:9) reminds us of God’s grace in another way. Oftentimes, people following God do not get recognition, but the exact opposite. They are persecuted and punished. The Book of Wisdom was written to encourage Jews who were being persecuted for their beliefs. They needed encouragement because they were living in places where pagan culture was dominant, and where many Jews had actually abandoned God’s ways in favor of living like the people around them.
How much like them we are sometimes. We are seduced into thinking that living like others in our culture doesn’t really matter – after all, if they’re doing it and getting recognized for it, why shouldn’t we too embrace that recognition? But this passage reminds us that oftentimes the world is wrong (and we are wrong too), even if it seems “right” or at least mostly okay.
But God is asking for more than just “okay” – God is asking us to do the things that God commands – which are not extraordinary, but which can seem extraordinary if our culture favors mediocrity. In fact, what is dangerous for those of us who seek to follow God is to pursue activities that cause us to be recognized – because if we are doing the things that people recognize as good, we might not be doing what God wants us to do. We can also become overzealous and think that we can ‘save’ the world around us through our efforts alone. For example, sometimes Catholics can be too idealistic, especially when it comes to moral teachings. When thinking about voting, for instance, we are sometimes taught to think that there is a perfect candidate who would come down on all the right sides of issues like abortion, embryonic stem cell research, or torture. In fact, there are no major candidates who fully agree with all these facets of Catholic teaching. What is a person to do when there are no good options (and not just in voting)?
The point of today’s readings is that we need to be faithful to God by doing the things that God has asked us to do. And if we do so we will eventually be rewarded. Today, let us call on God’s grace to do his will, even and especially when the world will not recognize the goodness of those acts of faithful discipleship.
- Joel Schickel