Tuesday of the
Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
(Ezekiel 28:1-10; Matthew 19:23-30)
The sports car wove in and out of three lanes as it moved up
the highway. It easily exceeded the
sixty mile per hour speed limit, perhaps reaching eighty or more. Its driver, succumbing to the same temptation
as Eve in the garden, was acting as if he were a god. Defying both traffic laws and death, the
driver evidently thought that the limitations which felt by most humans did not
apply to him. We hear of the same kind
of arrogance in the reading from Ezekiel today.
The prophet notes that the prince of Tyre calls himself a god. The prince has accumulated a hefty treasure by
his commercial acumen. His fault is that,
like other rich people, he thinks that his money insulates him from loss. Ezekiel predicts that he will come to a
violent end because he does not recognize his vulnerability. He is not a god but a man doomed to an
ignoble death.
Centuries later Jesus shows what real godly behavior looks
like. He turns on end every social
expectation of a god. He lords over no
one. He does not even own anything. Rather he serves all, choosing to be last so
that his Father, if it is his will, can make him first.
