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Friday – Twenty-fifth Week – OT2
Readings: Eccl 3:1-11; Lk 9:18-22.
Reading 1 (Eccl 3:1-11):
There is an appointed time for everything,
and a time for everything under the heavens.
A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to tear down, and a time to build.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them;
a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away.
A time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time of war, and a time of peace.
What advantage has the worker from his toil?
I have considered the task that God has appointed
for the sons of men to be busied about.
He has made everything appropriate to its time,
and has put the timeless into their hearts,
without man’s ever discovering,
from beginning to end, the work which God has done.
Gospel (Lk 9:18-22):
Once when Jesus was praying in solitude,
and the disciples were with him,
he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
They said in reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah;
still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.'”
Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.”
He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.
He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
Fr. Anthony Dinh Minh Tien, O.P.
I. THEME: Human beings can’t understand all of God’s works through history.
Living in the world, people recognize their limitation because they are depended on God, time, circumstances and environment. If they know how to plan according to these elements, they shall be successful; if not, they shall certainly be failure. In total contrasting with human beings, God always does anything right because He knows all things and isn’t depended on any above elements.
Today readings emphasize on the differences between God and human beings. In the first reading, the author of Qohelet, after did research on all human businesses, recognized that there is an appointed time for everything and a time for every affair under the heavens. People must be patient to wait for the appointed time to do everything, they can’t rush their work and hope for a good result; while God doesn’t depend on time, whatever He wants, that thing is existed. In the Gospel, even Jesus’ apostles knew he is the Messiah, they wanted him to be a powerful Messiah who shall use his power to destroy their enemy and to recover the sublime position for the Israelites, while Jesus revealed for them that “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
II. ANALYSIS:
1/ Reading I: “He has made everything appropriate to its time and has put the timeless into human hearts.”
1.1/ People need to do the right work at the time to attain a good result: The Vietnamese pay attention to these three important elements which help them to be successful in any area, they are: God’s providence, good opportunity and human harmony. If there is lacking any of the three elements, they shall certainly be failure. Let examine each of them.
(1) God’s providence: is His control of all things that happen in the universe. Human beings must know of His control through phenomena and orders in the world, such as: sunshine, rain, wind, snow, spring, summer, fall and winter, etc. For example, in the area of agriculture. If people know of these things, they will know how to do their works according to God’s control of the world, not according to their own design. They know when to sow, to thin out, to wait for and to harvest. Those who don’t understand His control shall sow at the harvest time, therefore, their work isn’t in harmony with His time and shall never give a good result. Moreover, after sowing, people must also be patient to wait for a necessary time before they harvest. If they harvest too soon, their products won’t be ripe; if they harvest too late, their product shall be spoiled.
(2) Good opportunity: is a chance that happened to people. For example, also as in agriculture. If a farmer has a good field, not too high so plants won’t be dried due to lacking water, not too low so plants won’t be spoiled due to flood. Moreover, his harvest also depends on fertilizer and insecticides, etc. If people don’t take an opportunity when it comes to invest, they won’t be successful.
(3) In harmony with others: Lastly, people must know how to rightly treat others and with love. One can’t weep at a wedding feast and laugh at a funeral as Qohelet said, “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” Moreover, people can’t apply a treatment for everyone but must be depending on their mood and temper as the author said, “A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.” Human heart is very complicated and changed; if one doesn’t know how to properly behave, he shall be failed.
1.2/ God doesn’t depend on anything: In contrasting with people, God always does everything properly and on time because He doesn’t depend on time and human time is in His hand. He also doesn’t depend on chances because He knows everything that happen, and He gives opportunities to people. He isn’t depended on people, but all people must depend on Him. The author of Qohelet confirmed, God “has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without men’s ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done.”
2/ Gospel: “The Son of Man must suffer greatly… and will resurrect on the third day.”
2.1/ The need to recognize the Messiah’s identity: One day, Jesus is praying alone; his disciples are also there with him. He puts a question to them: “Who people say I am?”
(1) People did not recognize Jesus’ true identity: The disciples say that some called you “John the Baptist.” Herod himself thought Jesus is John the Baptist who has been raised from death. Some called you “the prophet Elijah.” The Israelites believe Elijah is not dead, he was taken away by God and hidden in a secret place. He will be back to prepare the way for the Messiah. Some called you “one of former prophets has been raised up.”
(2) Peter confessed Jesus’ true identity: Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said in reply, “The Christ of God.” The relationship between a man and God is an individual relationship. Others can tell us about God, or they can only show us the way or create an opportunity for us to meet God; but to actually live our relationship with God, we need to spend time to learn, to pray, and to live this relationship by ourselves.
2.2/ The need to recognize the Messiah’s way of salvation: According to Jewish tradition, they believe a Messiah who will come in power and mighty to destroy their enemies, become a king, and recover honor and power for Israel. This is not God’s will, He wants His Messiah to suffer and to die to set people free from sins, and to give them eternal life. Jesus foretold two things to his disciples.
(1) “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed.”
(2) “And on the third day be raised.” His sufferings are just temporary; but he will resurrect gloriously on the third day.
III. APPLICATION IN LIFE:
– To attain a desired result, we need to do things on time, at a proper place and in harmony with others.
– To attain the ultimate goal of our life, we need to know who Jesus is, to understand what he revealed and to do what he commanded.
– We can’t question God why He doesn’t do thing this way or that way, but we must find out His way and do our works according to that.