ATTAINING THE RICHES OF JESUS CHRIST

SUNDAY, THIRTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP 

Wis 1:13-15,2:23-24; Ps 30:2,4-6,11-13; 2 Cor 8:7,9,13-15; Mk 5:21-43

Jesus Christ made himself poor, to make us rich

The Book of Wisdom offers an insight into God's relationship with his creation. God called things into existence and did not intend their death and decay. They were made to be sustained in being by the all-powerful word of God. Because the word of God is God himself, communicated to what he brought into existence, it is a sure support and solid foundation for all creation. Hence, since the will of God for all that he created was good and is expressed by his word, it follows that no created thing was created with evil or death, for the word of God that called them into being defined their essence as good. The cause of death in created reality is not the will of God but the disobedience to God’s will. “Death was not God’s doing, he takes no pleasure in the extinction of the living. To be—for this he created all; the world’s created things have health in them, in them no fatal poison can be found, and Hades holds no power on earth; for virtue is undying.” The world that God created for his purpose was hijacked by the evil principle when he taught man to disobey the will of God by living free from the word of God. The false freedom was the gate to Hades.

The sowing of the seed of disobedience to the will of God by disregarding the word of God is the cause of death and decay in the created world. By teaching man to disregard the word of God in his thinking, speaking, and doing, the evil one established the principle or powers of Hades among men. The appearance of the seed of death was the disappearance of the immortal virtue, God’s original gift to man to enable him to stick to his word that gives life. Man knew death when he lost this virtue. The loss of this virtue confirmed man in poverty and death. This is the poverty that St. Paul talks about in the second reading. This human poverty caused our Lord to assume our nature and become poor as the Son of Man, to restore our lost virtue by which man sticks to the word of God. That virtue that binds us to the word of God is our greatest wealth. “Remember how generous the Lord Jesus was: he was rich, but he became poor for your sake, to make you rich out of his poverty.” His poverty enriched us for it revealed the tender and infinite love of the Father to us. By this manifestation of the Eternal Word of God in human nature, we are enriched with divine nature through believing in the infinite love and goodwill of the Father, which was put in doubt by the evil one. By his appearance in human nature, we now have the most of everything, according to Paul, “most of faith, of eloquence, of understanding, of keenness for any cause, and the biggest share of our affection.”

The renewal of our faith in God is the return of the virtue that makes us rich in Jesus Christ. We see two people exercise this virtue in the gospel. The woman who suffered bleeding for twelve years was faith-convinced of the efficacy of touching the clothes of Jesus Christ. “‘If I can touch even his clothes,’ she had told herself ‘I shall be well again.’ And the source of the bleeding dried up instantly, and she felt in herself that she was cured of her complaint.” The illness had dried her material resources, but her faith in the Lord put an end to the process of death in her body. Thus, the virtue that made her stick with the Son of Man proved to be her true wealth. The same goes for the synagogue official who came to Jesus for his sick daughter. His faith led him to Jesus Christ, and he believed that the Son of Man could heal his daughter. He stayed with Jesus, even when he was told his daughter had died. Our Lord steadied his faith by saying to him: “Do not be afraid; only have faith.” His virtue of sticking with the Son of Man paid off, for he was given back his daughter from the dead.

In conclusion, the readings all point to the truth that the will of the Father, expressed by his word, is life for us and the source of all good things. The abandonment of the word of God brought death and established the dominion of evil and darkness within human life and material creation. But the self-manifestation of God the Father through his Son, who assumed our human nature, has restored our rich heritage in God. The Incarnation of the Son has restored the virtue which helps us to stick with the word of God, which is our stability in life. “O Lord, you have raised my soul from the dead, restored me to life from those who sink into the grace.” To stick with the word of God is to be established in life.

Let us pray: O God, who through the grace of adoption chose us to be children of light, grant, we pray, that we may not be wrapped in the darkness of error by abandoning your word, but always be seen to stand in the bright light of truth, Jesus Christ your Son.