Holy Scripture
Reading: The Book of Wisdom 1:16 — 2:1a, 10-24
Passage:
“‘He judges us debased; he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure. He calls blest the destiny of the righteous and boasts that God is his Father.”
“Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him in the end. For if the righteous one is the son of God, God will help him and deliver him from the hand of his foes.”
“With violence and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience. Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him.” These were their thoughts, but they erred; for their wickedness blinded them…”
Wisdom 2:16-21
Reflection
God humbles those who exalt themselves, and He exalts those who humble themselves. This was one of the antiphons during this week’s evening prayer. Who could have humbled Himself more than Christ?
As the scriptures say, “[He] humbled [Himself], becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted [Him] and bestowed on [Him] the name that is above every name…Jesus” (Phil. 2:8-9).
When we compare this to the life that brought Life into the world, we see Mary, the Mother of God, also elevated by the humiliation and exaltation of her son, the God-Man, Jesus Christ. In Mary’s Magnificat, found in the opening chapter of Luke’s Gospel, we see Mary’s prayer echo what St. Paul writes of Jesus: like Mother, like Son. She says, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.” Why does she say this? Because God has,
“…Looked upon His handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed…He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly.”
Luke 1:46,48,52
When Christ emptied Himself of His glory and began His descent, His Father did not pick just any woman; He selected the most humble woman. She is full of grace, and she is fully humble.
How could she have received the One who left the highest throne, if she had any inclination of her own greatness? In other words, to be filled with the most humble Being requires one to be emptied of any hint of pride. If we want Christ to enter us, we must empty ourselves as Christ taught us. As one thinker said, possibly C.S. Lewis, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it’s thinking of yourself less.”
But, as with all of Christ’s disciples, their faith must be tested. This is where we see the relevance of our passage. Both Christ and Mary are tested at the cross, which is prophesied in our passage today — you will need a Bible that contains all 73 books if you want to read this passage in its full context. If you don’t have one, you can find it here.
“He calls blest the destiny of the righteous and boasts that God is His Father,” is the kind of passage that makes you realize why the Jewish people would have been reluctant to include the Book of Wisdom in their Old Testament canon. It also hints at why the early Christians would have definitely seen it as prophetic and therefore part of God’s revelation.
When we compare these passages to Matthew’s Gospel, we can see that his crucifixion account and the beatitudes appear to be inspired by Wisdom 1-2. Specifically, we can see this in Matthew 27:43 and Wisdom 2:16.
“He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he wants him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” — Mt. 27:43
“‘He judges us debased; he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure. He calls blest the destiny of the righteous and boasts that God is his Father.’” — Wis. 2:16
What are we to take away from this, other than a point on the scoreboard for the Catholics in the Catholic-Protestant debate over the books that should be included in the scriptures? There are three things:
To be humble, we must empty ourselves, as Christ did.
We must fill ourselves with Grace, as Mary is.
We must be prepared to emulate both Mary and Christ in their passions.
The Devil will not permit us to just “be humble.” No, he will test our humility, just as the wicked tested the “lowliness of Mary” and the “patience of the Son of God” at the cross.
If we bend the knee in humiliation, the Devil will attempt to entice us to our feet with pride and self-exaltation. The Devil hates it when we take humble postures, like praying on our knees or lying prostrate on the floor, because he knows that to enter the throne room of God, we must enter on “bended knee.”
The Devil’s testing will come much in the same way it came at the cross. Mary’s lowliness is tested at the foot of the cross, and Christ’s patience and mercy are tested as the cross is lifted up.
Here we see Mary, our Mother and perfect disciple, remain faithful to her humble fiat while under persecution. At the beginning of the Gospel, one might say, “Well, easy for Mary to say, she was greeted by an angel. Of course, she would say yes.” But as we know from the scriptures, saying “yes” is not enough for us to be one with Christ; we must follow Him through the Valley of Death.
In Christ, we see our friend, brother, teacher, savior, and King living out the call He gave to us: “To be my disciple, you must [empty yourself], take up your cross, and follow me.” The question for us is, are we Peter watching from afar, or are we John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, sitting beside Mary, enduring the Passion alongside our Savior and His Mother?
It is here that our faith, hope, and love are tested. Do we have faith that even though our King is dead, He will rise as He said? Are we willing to wait in hope for His return, or have we decided to visit the tomb expecting to find the “living among the dead?” Do we love Him enough to stand by His Mother as Her heart, where She “treasured these things,” is ripped open and laid bare before a demonically drunk crowd, blind with bloodlust, cheering on the death of Her, Son: flesh of her flesh, and bone of her bone?
As our days grow darker, we must learn first from Mary and become lowly. We must, as Christ said, “deny ourselves” or “empty ourselves” of our pride. Once we have done this, we can respond to Christ’s call to “take up our cross,” and we do this by imitating Mary’s fiat, “Let it be done to me according to your word.”
Finally, with one hand in Mary’s and the other in Christ’s, we can carry our cross to Golgotha, knowing that just as Christ had someone commissioned from the crowd to help Him carry His cross, so our Queen and our King will commission their saints to help us carry ours.
Thanks for reading
—DR