Divine Strength in Self-Control

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Wisdom 12:13, 16-19

There is no god besides you who have the care of all,

that you need show you have not unjustly condemned.

For your might is the source of justice;

your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all.

For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved;

and in those who know you, you rebuke temerity.

But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency,

and with much lenience you govern us;

for power, whenever you will, attends you.

And you taught your people, by these deeds,

that those who are just must be kind;

and you gave your children good ground for hope

that you would permit repentance for their sins.

The Book of Wisdom is one of the last Old Testament books to be written, just a few centuries before Jesus’ birth. Speaking in the voice of the great philosopher-king Solomon, it presents Jewish piety and theology wedded to Greek philosophy, a marriage that made it a favorite of many early Church Fathers living in a Hellenistic world. It also gives us the most developed vision of life after death of any part of the Old Testament. Chapters 1-9 exhort people of power to love wisdom and righteousness to gain eternal life. Chapters 10-18 describe divine Wisdom’s role throughout salvation history, focusing almost exclusively on the plagues during the Exodus. 

This week’s first reading comes from a brief digression on God’s justice and mercy (11:15-12:27). How could a good and loving God drive the Canaanites out of the Promised Land and give it to the Israelites? God could do this in justice because of the way the Canaanites failed to follow the dictates of natural law. But then why did he not drive all of them out? God left some of the sinful Canaanites behind in the Promised Land as an act of mercy, giving them time to repent and the opportunity to see the Israelites flourishing by following God’s laws. It is a bit of a weeds-among-the-wheat situation, although as the biblical narrative moved along it became harder and harder to distinguish the Canaanite weeds from the Israelite wheat. Sound like the Church today? 

The Spirit is reminding us of the character of God while shining a light on our clandestine attempts to usurp his role as God. God is not overpowered by his own strength. He is strong enough, self-controlled enough, to be gentle: “those who are just must be kind.” Unlike you and me who far too often act out of passions that we do not control well (anger, lust, gluttony, etc.), God does not have a knee jerk reaction to our sins to lash out at us. He is patient, restrained, showing steadfast love and mercy (see Exodus 34:6). It is you and I who have the knee jerk reactions, which often result in one of my most frequent prayers: “God, why don’t you just act already?!” While God wants to know my thoughts and feelings, he has no need of me telling him how to be God and when and where to act. He has it covered. 

This reading is an invitation to patient trust. God’s patience, with others as well as with me and my antics, is a mercy. If God is not moving on my timetable to restore his Church, to fix the culture, to answer that prayer in the way I wanted, then he has good reasons for his patience. Rather than getting frustrated with him for his patience, perhaps we should praise him for it.