Homily
for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C)
Based
on Lk 12:13-21 (Gospel),
Eccl 1:2; 2:21-23
(First Reading) and Col 3:1-5, 9-11 (Second Reading)
From
the Series: “Reflections and Teachings of the Desert”
RICH IN
GOD’S SIGHT
‘Making himself rich in the sight of God.’ (Lk
12:21) ‘
The Gospel reading for this 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time is
taken from Lk 12:13-21.
Verses 13 and 14 say: A man in the crowd said to him, ‘Master, tell my
brother to give me a share in our inheritance’. ‘My friend’ he replied ‘who
appointed me your judge, or arbitrator of your claims?
Parallel text for verse 14 is Si 5:1 that says: Do not giveyour heart
to your money, or say, “With this I am self-sufficient’.
Verses 15 and 16 say: Then he said to them, ‘Watch, and be on your
guard against avarice of any kind, for man’s life is not made secure by what he
owns, even when he has more than he needs’. Then he told them a parable: ‘There
was once a rich man who, having had a good harvest from his land…
Parallel texts are:
1.
Si 11:24 - And do not say: “I am
self-supporting, what losses can I suffer in future?”
2.
Si 14:4 - A man hoards by stinting himself is
hoarding for others,and others will live sumptuously on his riches.
3.
Ho 12:9 - “How
rich I have become”, Ephraim says“I have amassed a fortune!”But he willkeep
nothing of all his profits, becauseof the guilt that he has brought on himselfm.
Footnote m
says “The translation follows the Greek.”
Verse 17, 18 and 19 say: thought to himself, “What
am I to do? I have not enough room to store my crops.” Then he said, “This is
what I will do: I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and store all
my grains and my goods in them, And I will say to my soul: My soul, you have
plenty of good things laid by for many years to come; take things easy, eat,
drink, have a good time”.
Parallel text for verse 17 is 1 Tm 6:17 that says: Warn those who are rich in this world
that they are not to lookdown on other peoples and not to set their hopes on
money, which is untrustworthyg but on God, who, out of his riches,
gives all that we need for our happiness. Footnote
g says “Var
(Vuilg) ‘the living God’.”
Parallel text for verse 19 are:
1. Pr
27:1 - Do not boast about tomorrow, since you do not know what today will bring
forth.
2. Jm
4:13-15 - Here is the answer for those
of you who talk like this, “Today or tomorrow we are off to this or that
town;we are going to spend a year there,trading and make some money”(v. 13) you
never know what will happen tomorrow: you are no more than a mist that is there
for a little while and then disappears (v.14). The most you should ever say “If
it is the Lord’s will, we shall still be alive to do this or that (v. 15).
Verse 20 says: But God said to him, “Fool! This very
night the demand will be made for your soul; and this hoard of yours, whose
will it be then?’
Parallel texts are:
1.
Si 11:19 - He
says: “I have found rest and now I enjoy my goods,”but he does not know how
long this will lastg he will leave his goodsfor others and die. Footnote g says “‘how
long this will last’ Greek; ‘what awaits him’ Hebr.”
2.
1 Co 15:33 - You say: ‘let us eat and drink
today. You must stop being led astray: “Bad friends ruin the noblest people.”
Verse 21 says: So it is when a man stores up treasure for himself in place of
making himself rich in the sight of God.’
Parallel texts are:
1. Mt
6:19-21 - “Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and
woodworms destroy them, and thieves can break in and steal (v. 19) But store up
treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworms destroy
them and thieves cannot break in and steal (v.20) For where your treasure is,
there will your heart be also (v. 21).
2. Rv
3:17-18 - You say to yourself, ‘I am
rich,I have made a fortune and have everything I want,’ never realizing that
you are wretchedly and pitiably poor blind, and naked tooj (v.17) I
warn you buy from me the gold that had been tested in the firek to
make you really rich, and white robes to cloth you and cover your shameful
nakedness,and eye ointment to put on your eyes so that you are able to seel (v. 18). Footnote j says “Unlike
Smyrna, Laodicea was rich in worldly goods, but spiritually poor”; Footnote
k says “The
true riches that are of the spirit”; and Footnote l says “The
clothing and the eye ointment are, of course, needed to repair the ‘blindness
and nakedness’ of v. 17; but there may be a special point in this as an
allusion to the local products for which Laodicea was known.”
The First Reading is Eccl 1:2; 2:21-23.
Chapter 1, verse 2 says: Vanity of vanities,c Qoheleth says.
Vanity of vanities. All is vanity! Footnote c says “The
traditional ‘vanity’ is retained here; the Hebr. term means primarily ‘mist’,
‘breath’, one of the traditional group of images (water, shadow, smoke, etc.)
use din Hebr. poetry to describe the transitory nature of man. But in Qo the
word has lost this sense and signifies only the illusory nature of things and
hence the delusions to which they subject mankind.”
Parallel texts are:
1.
Ec 12:8 - Vanity
of vanities, Qoheleth says,all things are vanity!f Footnote f says “The
book ends as it began but has covered mush ground in between. It has taught man
his wickedness but also his greatness by showing that this world is not worthy
of him. It incites the reader to disinterested religion and to that kind of
prayer in which a creature, aware of its nothingness, adores the mystery of
God. Cf. Ps 39.”
2.
Ps 62:9 - Ordinary
men are only a puff of wind, important menc delusion put in the
scales and up they go, lighter than a puff of wind. Footnote c says “Lit
‘ sons of Adam’, ‘sons of men’, ordinary people and men of rank respectively,
as in 49:2.”
3.
Ps 94:11 - …knows exactly how men think;how their
thoughts are a puff of wind.
4.
Rm 8:20 -
It was not for any fault on the part of
creationthat it was made unableto attain its purpose, it was made so by
God;I but creation still retains
the hope… Footnote I says “Lit
‘creation was subjected to futility: this was not its own fault, but the work
of him who so subjected it’ – i.e. of God who punished man’s sin in this way,
or of man whose sin was responsible.”
Chapter 2, verse 21 says: For so it is that a man who has
labored wisely, skillfully and successfully must leave what is his own to
someone who has not toiled for it all. This too is vanity and great
injustice;
Parallel text is Si 11:21 that says: A man grows
rich by his sharpness and grabbing, here is the reward that he receives for it.
Verse 22 says: For what does he gain for all the toil and strain he has undergone
under the sun?
Parallel text is Ps 39:6 that says: Every man that walks, only a shadow, and
the wealth that he amasses is only a puff of wind – he does not know who will
take it next.
Verse 23 says: What of all his laborious days, his cares of office, his restless
nights? This, too, is vanity.
Parallel texts are:
1. Jb
7:2 - Like the slave who sighing for the shade, or the workman with no thought
but his wages,
2. Si 40:5-6
- Even at night while he rests on his
bed his sleep only gives a new twist to his worriesd (v. 5);
scarcely than he lain down to rest than in his sleep, as if in broad daylight,e
he is shaken by horrible sights like a man running away from a battle (v. 6).
Footnote d says “The Hebr. And the context suggests that
sleep brings thoughts no less painful. Cf. Qo 2:22,23”; and Footnote
e
says “‘as is in broad daylight’
corr: ‘as if in the day of watching’ Greek.”
The Second Reading is from Col 3:1-5, 9-11.
Verse 1 says: Since you have been brought back to the true life with
Christ, you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is
sitting at God’s right hand.
Parallel texts are:
1.
Ep 2:6 - …and
raised us up with him and gave us a place with him in heaven, in Christ Jesus.e
Footnote e says “Here as
in Col. 2:12, 3:1-4, the use of the past tense shows that the resurrection and
triumph of Christians in heaven is considered as actually existing whereas the
future tense in Rom. 6:3-11, 8:11,17f treats it as something that has still to
take place. Treating the eschatological reality as already existing is a
characteristic of Paul’s letters written from prison.”
Verse 2 says: Let your thoughts be on heavenly
things, not on the things that are on the earth…
Parallel text is Ac 2:33 that says: Now raised to the heights by God’s right hand,s he has
received from the father the Holy Spirit, who was promised,t
and what you see and hear is the outpouring of that Spirit. Footnote s says “Words borrowed from Ps. 118 (v.16 LXX ‘The
right hand of the Lord has raised me up’) used in their preaching by the
apostles who took it to be messianic: Ac 4:11, 1 P 2:7, Mt 21:9p,42p, 23:39, Lk
13:35, Jn 12:13, Heb 13:6. But it is possible to translate. ‘ Having raised up
to the right hand of God’ and to see in this an introduction to the quotation
(v.34) of Ps. 110); which is another name of Apostolic preaching: Mt.
22:44p,26:64p, Mk 16:19, Ac 7:55,56, Rm 8:34, 1Co. 15:25, Ep. 1:20 Col. 3:1,
Heb. 1:3,13, 8:1, 10:12, 12:2, 1 P.3:22; and Footnote t says “According to the prophets, the gif of the
Spirit would characterize the messianic
era, Ex. 36:27+. Peter explains the miracle his bearers have witnessed as the
‘pouring out’ of this spirit, foretold in Jl 3:1-2 by the risen Christ.”
Verse 3 says: because you have died and now the
life you have is hidden with Christ in God.
Parallel texts are:
1. Col
2:12 - You have been buried with him, when you were baptized: and by baptism,
too, you have been raised up with him through your belief in the power of God
who raised him from the dead.
2. Ph
1:21 - Life to me, of course, is Christ, but then death would bring me
something more.
Verse 4 says: But when Christ is revealed – and he is you’re a life –
you too will be revealed in all your glory with himb. Footnote
a says “Var. ‘our’”; and Footnote b says “Through union with Christ in baptism, 2:12, his followers already live
the identical life he lives in heaven, cf. Ep 2:6+, but this spiritual life is
not manifest and glorious as it will be
in the parousia.”
Parallel texts are:
1.
Ph 1:27 - Avoid
anything in your everyday livesl that would be unworthy of the
gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come to you and see for myself, or stay at
a distance and only hear about you, I shall know that you are unanimous in
meeting the attack with firm resistance, united by your love for the faith of
the gospel. Footnote l
says “Lit. “Live your city-life
(i.e. your ordinary social life) worthily of the gospel’. The New City of God’s
kingdom has Christ for its ruler, the gospel for its law, and the Christians as
its free citizens, cf. 3:20; Ep. 2:19.
2. 1
P 5:1 - Now I have something to tell you elders:a I am an elder
myself, and a witnessb to the sufferings of Christ. and with you I
have a share in the glory that is to be
revealed.
Footnote
3. 1
Jn 3:2 - My dear people, we are already the children of God but what we are to
be in the future has not yet been revealed; all we know is, that when it is
revealed we shall be like him, because
we shall see him as he really is.
4. Rm
8:9 - The whole creation is eagerly
waiting for God to reveal his sons.k Footnote k
says “Lit. ‘ waiting for the revelation
of the sons of God’. The material world, created for man, shares his destiny.
It was cursed for man’s sin, Gen. 3:17, and is therefore now deformed: impotent
and decadent, vv. 19-22. But like man’s body, destined to be glorified, it too
is to be redeemed, vv. 21-23; it will share the glorious liberty of the
children of God, v. 21. For the Greek philosopher matter was evil and the
spirit must be delivered from it; Christianity regards matter as itself
enslaved and to be set free. In other texts also salvation is extended to
creatures (especially angels) other than men, cf. Col. 1:20; Ep. 1:10; 2 P.
3:13; Rv. 21:1-5.”
Verse 5 says: That
is why you must kill everything in you that belongs only to earthly life:c
fornication, impurity, guilty passion, evil desires and especially greed, which
is the same thing as worshipping a false god… Footnote c says “At
the mystical level of union with Christ in heaven, participation in his death
and resurrection through baptism is instantaneous and total, 2:12f,20; 3:1-4;
Rm 6:4+, but at the practical level of life on earth, this union has to be
grown gradually. Already ‘dead’ in theory, the Christian must experience death
and rebirth daily constantly, by ‘killing’ the old and sinful self.”
Parallel texts are:
2.
Ga 5:24 - You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless
you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires.
3. Ep
4:22 - You must give up your old way of life; you must put away your old self which gets corrupted by following illusory desires,
Verse 9 says: And never tell
each other lies. You have stripped off your old behavior with your old self…
Parallel texts are:
3. Ep
4:22-24 - that you should put away the
old self of your former way of life, corrupted through
deceitful desires (v. 22). Your mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution
(v. 23),so that you can put on the new self that has been
created in God’s way, in the goodness and holiness of the truthn (v.
24). Footnote n says “Each
human being should ‘put on the New Man’, Ep 2:15+, (here, as in v. 22,
translates ‘self’), so as to be re-created in him, cf. Ga 3:27; Rm 13:14. In
some places Paul talks in the same way about the ‘new creature’, 2 Co 5:17+.”
Verse 10 says: and you have put a new self which will
progress towards true knowledge the more it is renewed in the image of its
creatore Footnote e says “The human race that was to have been the
‘image of god’, Gn. 1:2b+, lost its way trying to locate the ‘knowledge of good
and evil’ outside and apart from the will of God, Gn. 2:17+, and became the
slave of sin and sinful urges, Rm. 5:12.”
Parallel text is Gn 1:26-27 that says: God said, ‘Let ush make mani
in our own image, in the likenessj of ourselves, and let them be
masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild
beastsk and all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth (v. 26). God created man in the image of himself; in
the image of God he created him; male and female he created them...( v. 27). Footnote
h says “It is possible that this plural form implies a discussion between God
and his heavenly court (the angels, cf. 3:5,22); our text was thus understood
by the Greek version (followed by Vulg.) of Ps 8:5 (quoted in Heb 2:7).
Alternatively, the plural expresses the majesty and fullness of God’s being:
the common name for God in Hebrew is Elohim, a plural form. Thus the way is
prepared for the interpretation of the Fathers who saw in the text a hint of
the Trinity”; Footnote i says “Collective
noun, hence the plural “Be masters of’; and Footnote j says “‘Likeness’,
by excluding the idea of equality, weakens the force of ‘image’, a realistic
term (‘something carved’) that implies a physical resemblance like that between
Adam and his sons, 5:3. This relationship with God marks man off from the animals:
moreover, it involves a general similarity of nature: intellect, will,
authority - man is a person. It paves the way for a higher revelation: man’s
share in the divine nature by virtue of grace.”
Verse 11 says: And in that image there is no room for
distinction between Greek and Jew, between the circumcised or the
uncircumcised, or between barbarian and Scythian, slave and free men. There is
only Christ: he is everything and he is in everything.f Footnote f says “The
new creation will not be divided into races and religions and cultures and
social classes in the way the present creation has been since the Fall: the
whole world will be reunited in Christ.”
Parallel texts are:
3.
1 Co 15:28 - And when everything is subjected to
him, then the Son himself will be subjected in his turn to the One who
subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all.
4. Ga
3:27-28 - All baptized in Christ,o you have all clothed yourselves
in Christ (v. 27), and there are no more distinctions between Jews and Greek,
slave and free, male and female, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus p
(v. 28). Footnote o says “Faith and baptism are not being contrasted,
one involves the other, cf. Rm. 6:4+.”; and Footnote p
says “Var. ‘you are all of Christ Jesus’.”
5. Ep
4:13 - In this way we are all to come to
unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the
perfect Man,j fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself. Footnote
j says “This does not refer primarily to the individual Christian. The sense is
collective. It can be taken as referring to Christ himself, the New Man, the
archetype of all who are reborn, 2:15+ or else ( and this sense is to be
preferred) as referring to the total Christ, i.e., the whole body, 1 Co.
12:12+; made of head, v. 15; 1:22; Col 1:18, and the rest of the body, v. 16;
5:30.”
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