Scriptural Ignorance
23 September 2007 by Sandy, csj
Anyone else out there just not able to get today’s Gospel reading? I do plan to look this up and see if I can figure it out, but on face value, this Gospel passage seems quite cryptic to me. On one hand Jesus says, “I tell you, make friends for yourselves with dishonest wealth, so that when it fails, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” What does that mean?! And then He says, “The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones.” That doesn’t sound good for the one who makes friends with dishonest wealth, does it?
I was at St. Nicholas Parish in Evanston, IL today, and Cardinal Francis George was visiting and presided. He gave a nice homily, basically saying that all the characters in the Gospel today were “bad guys”, but that didn’t really clear up my confusion with the apparent contradiction in the reading. Maybe I’ve just been working too hard and my brain really is turning to mush…
Can anyone shed any light on this? If I get some time to figure it out, I’ll post back here to let you know what I find…
IMHO, the passage from Amos, taken by itself is about injustice. The
last two lines from God are not praise of the bad guys but saying that
He will remember when it comes time for judgement. Like when someone
harms/hurts us and we say we will not forget!
The Psalm is like the beatitudes, asserting the dignity of those who
are victimized. God does not treat the needy, the powerless, the poor, or disadvantaged with less than human dignity.
Someone smarter than me should explain how the Timothy quote fits in!
The gospel/Jesus quote is that a person will exercise better
stewardship over honestly gained wealth than dishonest, that a person
will exercise better stewardship over their own wealth than someone
else’s, and that you cannot serve God and Mammon. (All three
postulates are common sense regarding human nature and seem to support
capitalism or owning your own business!)
The only way I can tie all these passages together is to say that they
are a challenge to the conscience. If I say I am a follower of Jesus,
then I really have to choose whether to go on cheating others and being
irresponsibile over what I have stewardship for, and make the choice
for Jesus/God. The passages push the point–I have to make the
choice–God or Mammon.
I think it’s great that you’re blogging about the Bible.
I think it is a scandal that so few Catholic parishes sponsor Bible
studies.
I recently have had this idea for a Bible study, which is to meet once
a week and study/meditate on the three Biblical readings for the coming
Sunday Mass. I would like to think that we would get more out of the
Sunday reading that way. We would be listening to it again, with the
benefit of what we learned in the Bible study having rolled around and
echoed in our heads for the previous few days/week.
I read an article once in the magazine St. Anthony’s Messenger that was
written by Dr. Scott Hahn. He says that the three readings that are
grouped together at each Mass have a common “type.” (sounds a little
like archtype). At least it provides me with an intellectual challenge
to find the common thread (type?) in the readings each Sunday.
My understanding of Catholicism is that traditionally, Mass has always
been considered the pre-eminant place to hear scripture being read.
It’s so obvious that it should be, but lets step back a second and dwell
on that–isn’t that a beautiful thing! Lets’s keep it that way. I
always understood that one of the purposes of Vatican II was to correct
for the fact that our worship had become too focused on externals only
and not from the heart. I recently leaned the fancy-schmancy word for
this–formalism. At Mass, let us not let the Bible be read as a mere
going-thru-the motions drone in the background (formalism)–lets hear it with our hearts and take it with us!
What do you think?
I must agree with you Stephen. ONe of my protestant friends used to think that Catholics didn’t read the Bible for themselves, which in sadly is true in some cases, but I quickly set her straight on her perceptions!
hmm..a thought to run by our techie nun…..well…..I must say sister since I know better!
What would you think of having this as a forum for discussions on the weekend readings? I know it wouldn’t hurt me to have discussion on them.
Well, glad to see that there’s some interest in this. Stephen, at our Church, the Sunday bulletin lists the readings for the following week, so that folks can do exactly what you propose. I don’t know how many actually do it, but there are a number of small faith communities that meet regularly, and given that it’s a Jesuit-sponsored parish, I would be willing to bet that there is a strong scriptural base to what happens in those groups. Another reason to confirm my love affair with Gesu…
Kelly, my only hesitation with what you propose is that I’m not sure I want this to be a primary focus of the blog. The blog is mainly about sharing my life as a woman religious with my readers, and to be sure, reflection on scripture is an important part of that. I just don’t think I can commit to a serious reflection on the Sunday readings every week and still have time to write about other “nunly” things.
I’m sure that there are web sites that have reflections on the weekly readings. If I find one I think is consistently good, I’ll add it to my links.
There will be times I’ll post about the scripture readings, but mostly when they trigger a new insight or question for me in my spiritual life.
The Mass readings for any day are also posted online, here:
http://www.usccb.org/nab/today.shtml