Msgr. Beaulieu – Readings for This Sunday

8th Sunday in Ordinary Time

About Today’s Readings

The Sermon on the Plain

This weekend’s Gospel opens with the parable asking if someone who is blind can lead others who are blind? It refers to the obvious fact that someone who is ignorant or misguided themselves cannot effectively guide others, as both of them will end up in trouble. No student is better than their teacher, but the student who is fully trained will mirror their teacher. Jesus also used the parable to criticize people who notice faults in others but not in themselves. The Sermon on the Plain concludes with this powerful admonition, “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command?” (Lk 6:46) Afterwards, there is an illustration of those who do or do not put into practice what Jesus had explored throughout the Sermon, expressed by means of the parable of the two foundations: those who built their house on rock versus those who built their house on sand (Lk 6:48-49).

Luke’s version of this saying has an important difference from Matthew’s, who just says “build on rock” (Mt 7:24-29). You could paraphrase what Jesus says in Luke this way, “Dig deep and build on rock.” Those profound teachings are not surface-level education that you know only with your head. This has to pierce deep in your inner self because “…from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks” (Lk 6:45). The Greek verb Jesus uses (Gk. περισσεῦμα = perissuema) points to the fact that the fullness of heart is not simply a flood of emotions like rising water; no, that original Greek word implies something like smash or burst forth. Perissuema, then, refers to an abundance or surplus, often used in the context of an overflow of material or spiritual blessings. The word conveys the idea of having more than enough, an excess that flows out and spills over. Realizing that perissuema is used to describe both physical abundance and the richness of spiritual blessings, in order to be true disciples of Christ, you have to excavate your heart: dig down deep into yourself and reach rock-level, individually or collectively. The Lord’s teaching on the transforming power of love is not just an enjoinder to politeness. Love of neighbor is primarily the road to authentic self-knowledge that is predicated on doing what Jesus has commanded constitutes what must be done according to the Sermon on the Plain.

The Gospel opens with the parable asking if the blind can lead the blind. It refers to the obvious fact that someone who is ignorant or misguided themselves cannot effectively guide others, as they will both end up in trouble. No student, then, is better than their teacher, but the student who is fully trained will be like their teacher. Infuse your wisdom, O God, into every secret heart.

The Book of Sirach

In the Greek version of the Bible, the first title of this book was “The Wisdom of Ben Sirach,” but from the time of Saint Cyprian, early in the third century, the Latin title Ecclesiasticus, meaning “church book”, was used. It received this title from the fact that, after the Psalms, it was the book most used in the liturgy; in fact, in the early Church it was a kind of official catechism used in the catechumenate. The author of the book is named in 50:27 as “Jesus, son of Eleazar, son of Sirach” (in Hebrew: Yeshua Ben Eleazar Ben Sira. Sirach was originally written in Hebrew, as the Greek translator (the grandson of the original author) says in the prologue. (Sirach is the only book in the Bible which contains a translator’s prologue which, while not inspired writing, is always included.)

Saint Jerome was acquainted with the Hebrew text, which was used up to the Middle Ages. In the 11th century the Hebrew disappeared and could not be used again until about 2/3rds of it was discovered in an old synagogue in Cairo in 1896. According to the prologue and other passages in the book, the inspired author was a learned scribe, a humble and zealous man, who lived in Jerusalem. From an early age he had meditated deeply on sacred Scripture. As an adult he was an energetic traveler and always kept his eyes and his soul open to test “the good and evil among men.” He eventually settled in Jerusalem, where he opened a school to give moral and civic education to all comers; there, under the inspiration of God, he wrote this book. His grandson – the Greek translator – arrived in Egypt in 133 B.C. He began his translation in 132 B.C., working from the Hebrew text, which was probably written prior to 170 B.C.

As happened with all the wisdom books of the Bible, the Greek translator puts special emphasis on the practical purpose of Sirach. Firstly, he advises everyone to live in accordance with divine Law, which should be the highest rule and main aspiration of man’s behavior. But as he says in the prologue, Ben Sirach wanted to write this book for those living abroad “who wished to gain learning, being prepared in character to live according to the law.” This book played an important part in shaping the faith of the Jewish people; to equip them to cope with the imminent menace of Hellenism, which ran completely counter to the monotheism of the Old Covenant.

When the Hebrew canon of scripture was formed (around A.D. 90), Sirach was omitted. We must recall that it appears that the criteria for inclusion in the canon were: