Readings for Today - President's Day

[helenshabitat]

I wasn’t able to find a thread on today’s readings yet so I apologize if this is a repeat.

Sir 1:1-10
Mk 9:14-29

I have a lot of questions!

1. How are these readings linked together? Wisdom, authority…I’ve been trying to pull out common ideas starting with the readings from yesterday but I’m really just stuck.
2. Was Jesus frustrated with people because he says “How long shall I suffer you”?
3. I am reading from the Douay-Rheims on my Kindle for PC and I believe my NAB is waiting in my leasing office for me - I just ordered it…I’m wondering if maybe the wording in the Douay-Rheims is just a little bit confusing for me right now like in Sir 1:9 “her” is that referring to “dominion” then? So would it be helpful to me maybe look at both versions?

 

[TimothyH]

It does sound like Jesus was a bit frustrated.

Then he questioned his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” He replied, “Since childhood. It has often thrown him into fire and into water to kill him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” Jesus said to him, " ‘If you can!’ Everything is possible to one who has faith." Then the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe, help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:21-24)

The reaction of the father reminds me of Thomas who will not believe unless he sees the nail marks and puts his hand into Jesus’ side. The boy’s father instead make a conscious decision to believe and then asks Jesus to help him believe that which, presumably, he struggles with. And in doing so, doesn’t the father practice the theological virtues of faith and hope?

*Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he is truth itself. By faith "man freely commits his entire self to God."78 For this reason the believer seeks to know and do God’s will. (CCC 1814)*Faith is the theological virtue by which we believe what God has revealed to us through his Holy Church, not because it fits our lifestyle or because it makes sense but because “He is truth”, because God has revealed it to us. The man cries out “I believe!”

Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. (CCC 1817) And here the man cries out, “Help my unbelief!”, relying not on himself but on Jesus who is the son of God.

What is interesting is that John, James and Peter saw Jesus transfigured just a few verses earlier - I believe it was yesterdays reading - but this ordinary man makes a conscious decision to believe, in spite of his doubt, likely having no evidence of Jesus’ divinity other than what he has heard as heresay from the crowds. The disciples ask Jesus why they could not drive out the demon and Jesus tells them that this kind of demon can only be driven out by prayer. Isn’t the father of the possessed boy praying when he cries out to Jesus, “I do believe, help my unbelief!”?

I guess I’m just sorta meditating and rambling…

How this ties into Sirach 1:1-10 is a good questions and whenever anyone says, “That’s a good question” it means that they have no clue as to the answer.

-Tim-

 

[helenshabitat]

Hey Tim thanks! Meditating and rambling has brought us some insights eh?

I tried looking these up in the Haydock Commentary and I didn’t get any help there so hmmm…hopefully we’ll get some more people chiming in here.

Way to go putting these verses into perspective as to what has just happened before - the Transfiguration! I believe it was the Haydock that was saying that is why they salute Jesus because he gets more street cred, if you will, after the Transfiguration.

Tomorrow is a new day with more coffee and hopefully more answers!

 

[Crumpy]

The only thing that seems to even superficially connect the passages has to do with wisdom and trusting in God.

Sirach is one of the deuterocanonical books which does not appear in the Jewish Bible. I’m not sure if it is one of the “apocryphal” books that appears in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Some of them are there, and some are not. I’m not sure about Sirach.

From other readings in Jewish commentaries on scripture and a book or two on Judaism, they have the conviction that the Torah (“instruction”) was created or conceived before the world was created. So, that is very similar to one of the verses in Sirach which talks about wisdom having been created first.

Wisdom and the Torah might even be loosely considered to be equivalent. But, the Jewish commentary says that some of the things in the wisdom books, like Proverbs, is not contained in the Torah, and may even seem to be in conflict with it at a point or two.

Jesus’s remark seems to reflect on that expectation that the man would have faith based on the Old Testament revelation (in general), and perhaps even based on specific prophecies of the Hebrew scriptures, which are not explicitly referenced, except the expectation of the Messiah.

But, at the very least, there is another commonality in that the Sirach excerpt says that God gives wisdom generously (which is also echoed in the NT book of wisdom-- James) and that Jesus give his healing generously also.

You might also see another general parallel in that the Sirach reading says a little bit about creation (of wisdom) which we didn’t hear about back in Genesis, of course. And, in Mk, we see Jesus using the power of the Almighty to order the demon to leave the young man. So, that is a “command” in parallel with the commands which God used in the creation accounts.

So, maybe you can tie all this up together in at least one way, that Jesus is the embodiment of wisdom which God gives so generously. And, perhaps also, that there is truly a gift of wisdom IN Jesus Christ. Jesus is the embodiment and personification of wisdom – the Way, the Truth,and the Life.

 

[helenshabitat]

That’s interesting Crumpy. My Bible history knowledge is pretty lean so that is something I need to work on for sure. Praying that a group will start up in my parish to do The Great Adventure series or something like that I think that would be extremely helpful.

 

[Crumpy]

After posting late last night, I watched the first part of the EWTN Mass, which aired at midnight, local time. Fr. Joseph gave a lengthy homily about Sirach and the Bible, but he did not even attempt to link the two readings.

There are resources on the internet for doing this type of research. I’m sure there’s an online commentary for these readings – if I could only remember where it is.