By Father Thomas Rosica, CSB
TORONTO, JULY 19, 2011 (Zenit.org).- It is important to know the historical background for today’s first reading from 1 Kings 3:5; 7-12. Solomon had just been installed as the third king of Israel. The lot of leadership fell to him, the favored son of Bathsheba.
Solomon is introduced to us, not as the legendary wise and good king, but as a man already compromised in his public life and personal relationships. Far from being the innocent child kneeling before God, he is more like the wayward son who prostrates himself before God, already aware of what will lead him away from the path of wise and discerning leadership. Solomon’s prayer for wisdom reveals a young king, unsure of himself at the outset of his reign.
The beginning of wisdom is the recognition that one needs wisdom. What did Solomon ask of his God? First he asked for an «understanding heart» (9) which means to «hear intelligently,» often with the implication of attention and obedience. This word could mean discern, give ear, listen, obey, perceive, or understand.
He also asked that he might be able to «discern,» «to separate mentally, to understand, or deal wisely.» The Lord repeated this word in his answer as recorded in Verse 12, and added yet another word — «I have given you literally ‘a wise, intelligent, skillful or artful’ heart.» Solomon wanted to receive wisdom by carefully listening and obeying the Lord.
The wisdom Solomon asked for was related to the role he was assigned. God was pleased with his prayer, and gave him not only what he has asked but also what he has not asked: riches, honor, glory. And the story goes on to show how Solomon’s wisdom was such that Israel «stood in awe of the king, because they saw that the wisdom of God was in him.»
In the New Testament, when Jesus was teaching, he commented about Solomon’s wisdom, «now one greater than Solomon is here» (Matthew 12:42). Jesus was referring to himself as the Christ, the Son of God.
Asking for wisdom
This unique moment in the life of one of the great kings of Israel raises many questions for us. When asking for wisdom, we must believe that God will provide the wisdom we seek; we must trust him to do it in his own way, which usually means that we will be in partnership with him.
Where in our life is the need for wisdom? Is there a willingness to be obedient and to look to God so that ours will be a righteous wisdom? Are we willing to partner with God for the acquisition of wisdom? Is there sufficient faith to believe that God will provide?
The Son’s image
Today’s second reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans (8:28-30) outlines the Christian vocation as it was designed by God: to be conformed to the image of his Son, who is to be the firstborn among many brothers (29). God’s redemptive action on behalf of the believers has been in process before the beginning of the world. Those whom God chooses are those he foreknew (29) or elected.
While man and woman were originally created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27), it is through baptism into Christ, the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15), that we are renewed according to the image of the Creator (Colossians 3:10). Those who are called (30) are predestined or predetermined.
<p>These expressions do not mean that God is arbitrary. Rather, Paul uses them to emphasize the thought and care that God has taken for the Christian’s salvation.
Recognize the kingdom
Jesus used a variety of images to refer to the kingdom of heaven. Throughout the New Testament, we read about a shepherd who has lost sheep, a woman who has lost a silver coin, a father who has lost a son. In these and many more stories, Jesus is saying that the kingdom comes for us when we find what we have lost.
Jesus started his ministry with the proclamation of the Gospel: «The kingdom of heaven is at hand.» But his disciples, then and now, keep on asking: «When is the kingdom coming? How will we recognize it?»
His usual reply indicated the difficulties of seeing the kingdom where we are blinded by earthly images. Jesus spoke of the kingdom as being near, «at hand,» and coming unexpectedly. He revealed the kingdom in two ways.
His miracle-working deeds revealed present power over evil; his parables contained messages of what the kingdom could and should be like.
Parables
The historical backdrop of the parables is very important in our understanding of these marvelous stories. In the unsettled conditions of Palestine in Jesus’ time, it was not unusual to guard valuables by burying them in the ground (44). The first two of the last three parables of Matthew’s discourse (13:44-52) have the same point.
The person who finds a buried treasure and the merchant who finds a pearl of great price sell all that they have to acquire these finds; similarly, the one who understands the supreme value of the kingdom gives up whatever he must to obtain it. The joy with which this is done is made explicit in the first parable, but it may be presumed in the second also. The concluding parable of the fishnet resembles the explanation of the parable of the weeds with its stress upon the final exclusion of evil persons from the kingdom.
Since Matthew tends to identify the disciples and the Twelve (52) this saying about the Christian scribe cannot be taken as applicable to all who accept the message of Jesus. The scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven knows both the teaching of Jesus (the new) and the law and prophets (the old) and provides in his own teaching both the new and the old as interpreted and fulfilled by the new.
Non-Christian ideas
The Kingdom of God is not — as some maintain today — a generic reality above all religious experiences and traditions, but it is, before all else, a person with a name and a face: Jesus of Nazareth, the image of the unseen God. We cannot marginalize Christian revelation and its ecclesial transmission by proposing a non-Christian vision where misuse of the terminology «kingdom» or «reign of God» is a substitute for Jesus Christ and his Church.
In the «lineamenta» (preparatory document) for the 2012 Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization, two particular passages and their references to the kingdom struck me in light of today’s Gospel reading.
Under section No. 24 The «New Evangelization: A Vision for the Church of Today and Tomorrow» we read: «We are facing situations which are signs of massive changes, often causing apprehension and fear. These situations require a new vision, which allows us to look to the future with eyes full of hope and not with tears of despair. As ‘Church,’ we already have this vision, namely, the kingdom to come, which was announced to us by Christ and described in his parables.
«This kingdom is already communicated to us through his preaching and, above all, through his death and resurrection. Nevertheless, we oftentimes feel unable to enflesh this vision, in other words, to ‘make it our own’ and to ‘bring it to life’ for ourselves and the people we meet everyday, and to make it the basis for the Church’s life and all her pastoral activities.»
In No. 25: «The Joy of Evangelizing» we read: «A new evangelization means to share the world’s deep desire for salvation and render our faith intelligible by communicating the logos of hope (cf. 1 Peter 3:15). Humanity needs hope to live in these present times. The content of this hope is ‘God, who has a human face and who has loved us to the end.’
«For this reason, the Church is, by her very nature, missionary. We cannot selfishly keep for ourselves the words of eternal life, which we received in our personally encountering Jesus Christ. They are destined for each and every person. Each person today, whether he knows it or not, needs this proclamation.
«To be unaware of this
need creates a desert and an emptiness. In fact, the obstacles to the new evangelization are precisely a lack of joy and hope among people, caused and spread by various situations in our world today. Oftentimes, this lack of joy and hope is so strong that it affects the very tenor of our Christian communities. This is the reason for renewing the appeal for a new evangelization, not simply as an added responsibility but as a way to restore joy and life to situations imprisoned in fear.
«We therefore approach the new evangelization with a sense of enthusiasm. We will learn the sweet and comforting joy of evangelizing, even at times when proclamation might seem like a seed sown among tears (cf. Psalms 126:6). May it mean for us — as it did for John the Baptist, for Peter and Paul, for the other apostles and for a multitude of splendid evangelizers all through the Church’s history — an interior enthusiasm that nobody and nothing can quench. May it be the great joy of our consecrated lives.
«And may the world of our time, which is searching, sometimes with anguish, sometimes with hope, be enabled to receive the Good News not from evangelizers who are dejected, discouraged, impatient or anxious, but from ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervor, who have first received the joy of Christ, and who are willing to risk their lives so that the Kingdom may be proclaimed and the Church established in the midst of the world.»
[The readings for the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time are 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12; Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 13:44-52 or 13:44-46]* * *
Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, chief executive officer of the Salt and Light Catholic Media Foundation and Television Network in Canada, is a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. He can be reached at: rosica@saltandlighttv.org.
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