{"id":1171,"date":"2019-10-27T12:38:16","date_gmt":"2019-10-27T17:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=1171"},"modified":"2019-11-22T12:41:22","modified_gmt":"2019-11-22T17:41:22","slug":"the-crown-of-righteousness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=1171","title":{"rendered":"The Crown of Righteousness!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

30th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Sir 35: 12-14, 16-18; 2 Tim 4: 6-8, 16-18; Lk 18: 9-14<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Deacon Larry Brockman<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Righteousness!  It\nis one of those things we hear about often but fail to understand fully.  Just what does it mean to be righteous?   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Hebrew roots of the word righteousness relate to the\njustice that God gives those people who conform to his covenant with Him.  So, the Jews of Jesus time would have\nunderstood that the righteous are those who deserve justice because they\nconform to the law.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the New Testament, Paul talks often about\nrighteousness.  There, the word means\nthose who live in conformity to God\u2019s will. \nThey are \u201cright\u201d with God.  There\nis a subtle difference, and that is emphasized in our readings today.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 First of all,\nrighteousness calls for personal humility. \nI am talking about true humility. \nA truly humble person knows who they are.  That is what we hear from St. Paul this\nmorning.  We hear about who he really was.  Paul was dedicated to the conversion of the\nGentiles.  He was knocked off his horse,\nblinded by God, and told to change his ways. \nHe was told not to persecute the believers of Jesus Christ, but rather,\nto preach Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.  Paul,\nwho was an important Rabbi in the Pharisaic Jewish Movement, dropped everything\nand dedicated the rest of his life to preaching Christ.  Paul knew who he was, a servant of Christ,\ncalled to do his bidding as a travelling preacher.  In today\u2019s second reading, we find him in chains\nin a Roman prison at the end of his life. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it may seem that Paul is anything but humble about\nhis righteousness, these circumstances and the life of Paul shed a different\nlight.  Paul is simply recognizing who he\nwas.  Paul knew that age and his\ncommitment to the Lord had taken its toll. \nHe sensed that life in this world was almost over for him.  Paul was not comparing himself to others;\njust recognizing who he really was called to be.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, in the Gospel we hear about a second aspect of true\nhumility.  The parable that Jesus tells\nmakes it very clear that we need to concentrate on our own faults rather than\ncompare ourselves to others.  It may\nactually have been true that the Pharisee kept the law literally.  He may not have sinned the way he attacks\nothers in his statement.  He probably\ndidn\u2019t commit adultery; he probably wasn\u2019t dishonest; and he probably wasn\u2019t\ngreedy.  But that isn\u2019t what would make\nhim righteous.  This would have shocked\nthe crowd; because the essence of Judaism at the time was literal compliance\nwith the law.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What would make him righteous is whether he responded to\nGod\u2019s calls to him.  Did this man hear\nthat little voice inside his heart that prompted him in every day life?  Did he find out who God really wanted him to\nbe, and then follow that plan?  From\nJesus\u2019 description, this man was focused on the law, and judged what others did\nrather than what he was called to do.  He\nwasn\u2019t motivated to dig deep down in his heart and recognize his failings like\nthe Tax Collector was.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sirach talks this morning about God and Old Testament\nJustice.  His opening statement is very\nimportant.  He says: \u201cGod knows no\nfavorites\u201d.  It just simply has to be\nthat way with God.  God created each\nperson out of love.  God loves each and\nevery one of the people he creates the same. \nJust like we love our children equally. \nGod has designed each of us the way he intended for us to be.  Unfortunately, not all of God\u2019s children\nlearn to know and serve God; just like not all of our children respond to the\nbest efforts of their parents.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our relationship with God is ultimately one on one; it is\nnot relative to others.  Only God is\naware of all of the gifts and incumbrances that each person He created is\ndealing with.  God will justify each of\nus on the basis of the gifts he gave us. \nGod\u2019s judgment is based on the one on one relationship we have with Him.\n And in your relationship with God, He\nonly cares about how you are responding to him, not how you are doing relative\nto others.  That certainly comes across\nin the parable in the Gospel.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only that, but God is only interested in what happens\ngoing forward.  His mercy is unlimited;\nHe forgives us for everything and anything as long as we confess, believe in\nhim, and vow to repent.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that all of us are called to\nrighteousness with God.  From the\nbeginning God sent us all out into the world to \u201cbe fruitful and multiply\u201d.  That\u2019s what most of us were called to do.  To go out into the world, raise our own in\nthe image and likeness of God, and be fruitful. \nThat means providing for our families and using the talents and gifts\nGod gave us.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And at any time during our life, we can reconcile\nourselves with God.  All of us are called\nto the personal relationship with Jesus Christ. \nAll of us are called to be like the Tax Collector.  The Tax Collector was one of the most hated\npersons in first century Jewish society. a person thought to be complicit with\nthe Romans, inherently dishonest, greedy, and far from the law.  All of us are sinners like the Tax Collector\nin our own way.  But if we truly know who\nwe are and were called to be, we recognize the things we have done wrong and\nare willing to change going forward, then all of us can become righteous with\nGod. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of life, if we have that personal relationship\nwith Christ, and we maintain our true humility. \nthen just like Paul, all of us can expect the crown of righteousness.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time Sir 35: 12-14, 16-18; 2 Tim 4: 6-8, 16-18; Lk 18: 9-14 Deacon Larry Brockman Righteousness!  It is one of those things we hear about often but fail to understand fully.  Just what does it mean to be righteous?   The Hebrew roots of the word righteousness relate to the justice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[18,600,148],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1171"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1172,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions\/1172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}