13th Week, Ordinary Time, Monday, June 28
Genesis 18:16-33 / Matthew 8:18-22
Abraham bargains with God; "What if you find ten good people?"
An old verse goes something like this: "For want of a nail a shoe was lost. For want of a shoe a horse was lost. For want of a horse a battle was lost. For want of a battle a nation was lost. And so, for want of a nail a nation was lost." Today's reading from the Book of Genesis could be summarized in a similar verse that would end, "And so, for want of ten good people a city was lost." The lesson to be drawn from the Genesis reading is that our own failure to acquire holiness affects more than just ourselves. It affects our family, our city, and eventually even our nation.
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What motivates us most to strive for personal holiness in our lives? "I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth." John 17:19
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The purpose of this passage is not to tell us a story but to teach us a lesson. Abraham as the leader of the people must understand the plans of God. He must be a confidant of God. He must have the firm conviction of what sin does. Immorality destroys not only an individual but a whole nation. In this calamity, Abraham thinks - and so do we when a natural calamity happens that God is too strict. Must the innocent suffer along with the wicked? Is there a collective guilt? Abraham haggles with God. Will God destroy when there are 50: 45: 40: 30: 20: 10? Like the importunate friend of the Gospel [Luke 11.58], Abraham is sure that God will hear him. This is the first example of a prayer of intercession. This is the role of the saint: he prays for the people and it is his goodness that saves the nation. According to Jeremiah [5.1] and Ezekiel [22, 30], God would pardon Jerusalem if only one just man would be found there. In Isaiah 53, it is only the suffering servant who will save the whole race "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ who is just: for he is the sacrifice, that takes our sin away, and not only ours, but the whole world's (1 John 2. 1-21)
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The simple narrative of Abraham interceding for sinful Sodom and Gomorra is very rich in content.
1. All nations, even these twin cities of sin, can be blessed on account of Abraham if they show just a little faith and repentance.
2. Abraham, the origin and leader of a new people, is presented as a mediator, who intercedes for the people, as Christ will do.
3. A small number of just people can save many sinners, on account of solidarity in sin and in goodness. This theme will be further developed in the Bible that one person can save all (cf. The Suffering Servant), what, in fact, Christ will do.
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When Jesus was leaving Capernaum, a scribe came to him. "Master, I will follow you, wherever you go" (verse 19). This was a golden opportunity. He would have been the first "qualified" man in his company. And he had the necessary respect. He, the doctor of the law, called Jesus: Master Following Jesus required more than just being an intellectual and being a useful man. It requires a total commitment. More than an affinity of thoughts, is a community of life. Like Jesus we have to give up everything, security and comfort, what the shrewdest animal wants to keep. We have to give up the nest with the nest eggs. Our destiny is now linked with Jesus. Our security and comfort and the provision for the future is now only he. Who wants to follow Jesus, has to do what Caesar did when he led his soldiers into England, burning the ships.
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“Leave the dead to bury their dead.” Though implying total renunciation in the style of the Jewish rabbis, Jesus stresses more making a new beginning, getting uprooted from the past and breaking with it, so as not even to stay at home until one’s father dies, and accepting the insecurity of following Jesus and living the faith consistently and earnestly. Are we consistent? Are we radicals in the sense demanded by Jesus?
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Prayer
Lord our God, we share in the sins of the world, in its injustices and lack of love, by our silence and our cowardice. Make us aware that you also call us to lift up this world above itself by proclaiming to it the good news of your Son Jesus Christ. And to make this message of hope believable, help us to live it consistently, that people may see that you are our God of justice, love and peace, now and for ever. Amen
