Breaking Open the Word

Wisdom 11:22-12:2
2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2
Luke 19:1-10
 
 Wisdom literature has the following characteristics; it searches for the meaning of life as it is known through the lived experience and not from faith alone; it shows an eagerness to explore the unknown and the difficult problems of sickness, suffering, death, the inequality of the rich and the poor and what seems to be an arbitrary divine blessing; it has a curiosity about the whole world and the universal experience of all people and nations;  and it has a commitment to discover the proper moral behavior and the way to live it out.
 
To live these ideals, the people had to think for themselves, they had to understand that following the letter of the law was not going to help them in their daily life. They had to use reason before making decisions and they had to control their passions. They had to question life and at the same time analyze the common experiences that they lived through and create rules to live by from those experiences.
 
From what scholars can determine, the Wisdom of Solomon is the latest book in the Old Testament to be written and reflects a reaction to Greek philosophy in Alexandria and the challenges the Jewish faith community faced in the 1 ^st century BCE. Because of the date and language used, it was never entered into the Hebrew canon, the books the Jews recognized as making up the Old Testament.
 
The main purpose of the books was to reassure the Jewish community in Egypt that keeping the faith is worth the effort they had to use despite the hardships they faced in a pagan culture. It makes use of salvation history as a lesson to be used by the wise and the as an explanation of God’s care for the suffering of the just.
 
Todays reading has the author addressing God while at the same time teaching his audiences about the divine nature of the Lord and the relationship He has with all of His creation, what we are to believe and how we should behave.
 
How often have we heard Jesus say the exact same things to the people in His time and that still applies to us today? We are called to repent for our sins, we are to acknowledge we are sinners in need of God’s mercy and should expect to be purified by the Lord.
 
Paul is addressing the community, first in prayer, but also in expressing that the rumors they are hearing are not to be believed. What was normal for believers at that time was that the second coming of the Lord was, the Parousia, was at hand. They believed that because of the trials and persecutions they were under. There were many who were saying the Day of the Lord was close at hand, but in reality, they were just creating havoc, worry and unnecessary alarm. They were creating fear and not hope.
 
Paul reminds them that to be prepared for the future they need to focus on Gods love and mercy, and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
 
We have already heard the stories of how the tax collectors were a despised class of people because they worked for the Romans. How could their own kind, Jewish believers and followers of the law betray their own beliefs by working for the enemy? How was it that they grew rich at the hands of their own people and allowed the Romans to control everything? Good questions they asked of themselves about others, but they failed to look at themselves and ask some of the basic tenants of their own faith traditions.
 
Zacchaeus does not hesitate to tell Jesus how he intends to use the wealth he has accumulated by helping the poor and that if he has wronged anyone, he would repay them four times the amount in question. Jesus proclaims to all around that salvation has come to Zacchaeus and his household. He adds even greater emphasis by calling out that he is a true descendent of Abraham.
 
The closing statement to this passage is one theme that Jesus uses frequently, that he has come to find the lost sheep of Israel and to save them. We are included today because we are grafted on the root that was the Jewish religion. Paul’s mission to the Gentiles, that includes us today, was that message he was proclaiming because the Jewish peoples failed to believe that Jesus was the Messiah.