Wednesday of the
Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
(Sirach 36:1.4-5a.10-17; Mark 10:32-45)
In the last days of 1776 the cause of American
independence was thrown into doubt. George
Washington’s army had been routed in New York, and confidence in the general
was waning. The army literally walked in
tatters through one of the worse winters in years. Added to all this trouble, many of the
soldiers’ inscriptions would expire on January 1. Then seemingly out of the dark a blessing came. On Christmas night the American army took
almost nine hundred prisoners with few casualties in a surprise attack on the
Hessian garrison at Trenton. Most of Washington’s
soldiers reenlisted wanting to follow their commander to victory. Such a turnabout is what Ben Sirach seeks in
the reading today.
In the second century before Christ, the people of Israel
are almost completely suppressed. Having
been long a conquered nation, they now see their holy places desecrated by the
Greek lords and the compromised Jewish elite.
Living in Jerusalem, Ben Sirach wants to remind the people of their rich
heritage. In the prayer that comprises
today’s passage, he pleads God to demonstrate His power so the morale of the
people may be restored. He is coy about this
reason, however. He tries to cajole the
Lord with pretensions of praise from the entire world if He demonstrates His
power.
God, of course, does not look for public support. He seems to eschew it, in fact. In the gospel Jesus predicts that he will be
defiled, whipped, and executed. He will
rise from the dead as well but will appear only to a select few. He wants his disciples to understand that the
greatest grandeur lies in self-sacrificing love not acts of "shock and aw."
