The Twenty-fifth Sunday Ordinary Time (Cycle B)

The tie in between today’s readings: Pride vs. Humility

Wisdom 2:12-20, Psalm 54:1-8, James 3:16 – 4:10, Mark 9:30-37

The Bible shows us that God is all about relationships. The Almighty is concerned with our standing with Him and how we treat each other. In today’s readings, we see three kinds of people: the atheist who doesn’t know God, the churchgoer who thinks he knows God, and those that God knows. Let’s look at the categories, see where the shoe fits, and find out how a believer should react.

In the book of Wisdom, we see how the atheist thinks. He believes that there is no God, therefore: eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die! He is wise in his own eyes and mocks the “superstitions” of religion. His humanism embraces the gospel of Star Trek, instead. He is tolerant of everyone except the person who holds to absolutes concerning right and wrong. He hates them! The god fearing person, by his very existence, condemns the atheist’s world view without uttering a word. There is little anyone can do to convince a person who will not believe in God, short of inventing a god-o-meter to prove the Almighty’s reality and even then… The only thing a righteous person can do is to live with integrity and love with a patient endurance.  A life filled with solid reasoning, care for others, and steadfast prayer is a spiritual battle worth fighting (Psalm 54).

The person who thinks that he knows God is self-deceived; a Pharisee, if you will. It’s all pride! We all must be careful because we may find ourselves to be one of these people unawares. This person keeps God in a container between his ears. He remakes the Almighty in his own image; making the Lord of heaven no bigger then his own imaginative opinions.  He thinks God is like him and selfishly prays for his genie to rubberstamp his desires. We know that this is true of many because of today’s epistle, James 3:16-4:10 (NIV).

¹⁶ For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

¹⁷ But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸ Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

Submit Yourselves to God

4 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

James is taking the CHURCH to task because of their self-centered carnality. The gospel (Mark9:30-37) reading also touches on this theme when the disciples argue over who is the greatest among them. James gives the remedy to this situation. He tells us to reject our pride, confess our sins, and submit to God (James 4:6-10). Look in the mirror! If you discover a Pharisee then confess as the tax collector. 

A relationship with God turns our world upside down. The greater serves the lesser. The first shall be last. When you think that you are really something…you’re nothing. That’s why we need to be like children before Him (Mark 9:35-37). We have to see ourselves as having no rights, no strength, and maybe a little dumb, too. We have no hope in ourselves and nothing to offer but dependency and trust on the One who can take care of us. Call on Him in faith and be accepted in His Beloved Son. He will give you His Holy Spirit and allow you to call Him your Father, also. Then, just as child plays dress up with their parents’ clothes, put on Christ and love Him; more importantly, be in love with Him. Whoever loves God is known by God and others see that God-Life in them and glorifies the Lord. Be that kind of person! It doesn’t get any better than that.