August 26, 2024 // Perspective

God Comes to His People in Need, Regardless of the Age

Msgr. Owen Campion

The Sunday Gospel

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Book of Joshua provides this weekend’s first reading. The book draws its name from the ancient Israelite leader, Joshua, who followed Moses and guided the Hebrews into the land God had promised them.

Fleeing from slavery in Egypt to settlement in the Promised Land was long, difficult, and at times chaotic. Natural problems, such as the want for water and food in the Sinai desert, accounted for much of the trouble. Another serious problem was the restlessness of the people, who were apt to stray away from the path given them by God.

The greatest task before Moses, and later before Joshua, was to reinforce the people’s trust in the guidance given by God.

In this weekend’s reading, Joshua summons the leaders of the people. He bluntly calls them to be true to God. The people respond by declaring their will to follow God. They realize that God alone led them out of the misery of Egypt. They trust that God will lead them until they are secure in the Promised Land.

The Epistle to the Ephesians supplies the second reading. This reading often is misunderstood in the modern context, in which the human rights of women are much noticed and appropriately demanded. To understand the epistle’s message, it helps to know the environment in which the New Testament was written.

The Jews at the time of Jesus had a better sense of the fact that all persons, male or female, share human dignity, although the Jewish culture of the time is criticized for having a paternalistic attitude toward women.

This epistle, however, was not written for Jews, or at least not for Jews only, or just for Jews living in the Holy Land. It was written instead for Christian converts, generally from paganism, who lived in Ephesus, a great center of Roman culture and especially of the Roman pagan religion. Indeed, it was a Roman pagan religious shrine, as important as Lourdes and Guadalupe are important to Catholics today.

In this Roman culture, women were little better than livestock. Elders arranged marriages. Brokers negotiated prices for brides. Love in marriage was accidental, if ever. Wives had few rights. Abuse and infidelity were to be expected. The epistle, then, was utterly revolutionary, calling upon spouses, male or female, to see marriage as a true union, characterized by mutual love, existing to give both spouses the means to happiness and eternal life amid the realities of the times.

St. John’s Gospel, the source of the last reading, makes a point often forgotten. Jesus was never met with total acceptance. He was disputed, ignored, rejected, and criticized, but those who believed and followed found in the Lord all the answers.

Thus, the Gospels, and this reading, do not end with reporting opposition to Jesus but by proclaiming the rewards of faith.

In answer to the Lord’s question as to their faith, the apostles profess their trust. Their absolute faith was crucial in their roles as builders of the Church. It also is important to note that Peter spoke for them.

Reflection

“Whoever promised anybody a rose garden?” Life on earth always has been and will be hard, whatever the age, wherever the geographic location, but no one is doomed to despair and helplessness. God provides guidance, hope, and ultimately an eternal reward of peace and security.

God speaks in the Gospels, related to us by the Church, the ancient guardian of the Scriptures, commissioned by Christ to proclaim the words of salvation.

The three readings remind us that the Gospel will never be universally accepted.

Nevertheless, God’s love has come to people in need again and again. He offers us strength and guidance each day to cope with the trials and uncertainties of earthly existence.