Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time C-2

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 17 (16):15 As for me, in justice I shall behold your face; I shall be filled with the vision of your glory.

Collect O God, who show the light of your truth to those who go astray, so that they may return to the right path, give all who for the faith they profess are accounted Christians the grace to reject whatever is contrary to the name of Christ and to strive after all that does it honour. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Scripture today: Isaiah 7: 1-9; Psalm 47; Matthew 11:20-24

Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you. (Matthew 11:20-24)

Repentance Every discipline of study has its interest, but one of special, important and general interest is history. A person may have little understanding of physics, but if he has little knowledge of history then that is unfortunate. It is important that he start to read some history — the history of his own country and culture, of his own civilization, and then as his interest may lead him. If his bent is science, a knowledge of the history of science will be useful. It is a good thing if a person who reads history can reflect on the more general dynamics of history — on the fundamental factors shaping the history of man and his world. There have been various proposals in respect to this. Marx proposed that the conflict between the two classes, labour and capital, is the basic dynamic, and that this is resolved according to Hegel’s law of struggle (as modified and applied by Marx). The situation in possession (thesis) is opposed by its opposite (antithesis), and the struggle resolves into a new situation (synthesis) which becomes the seed-ground of further struggle. Marx saw the ultimate resolution to lie in a classless society. That, broadly, was his philosophy of history. Apart from its enormous over-simplification, it forgets the centrality of the moral struggle within the individual person. I do not refer simply to the struggle for whatever is “ethical” — whatever, fundamentally, that may mean. The basic struggle for each person is not his struggle with his oppressive bosses, nor even his struggle against whatever is “unethical” around him, but his struggle against personal sin. Sin is the dominant oppressor, and the question is, what is the dynamic, the key, the means to win that struggle? The root problem for man is his alienation from God and disregard for his law. This is what man is by nature prone to, and it has been revealed by God that of himself he cannot prevail in the struggle to make this right. Man discovers himself to be a sinner, and sin radically affects the course of history. Any philosophy of history must negotiate the question of sin. More importantly, the question must be resolved.

In our Gospel passage today our Lord denounces whole cities for their failure to confront this fundamental problem. There are at least two things our Lord makes clear about this. Firstly, sin is a principal factor in the shaping of human history, and it brings on serious consequences. Secondly, the way to confront it is by personal repentance. “Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.” Tyre and Sidon fell because of sin, our Lord is saying. Because of their sin, they were judged and condemned by God, and this condemnation included their downfall in history. Their course would have been different had they repented. So then, Korazin and Bethsaida were on the path to woe because of their sins. Their only means of avoiding this path was repentance, and this they were refusing to do. It was the same with the town of Capernaum which boasted of being the residence of Jesus Christ himself during his public ministry. They did not believe in him, and they refused to change. They would not repent. Our Lord directs a terrible warning to them: “you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you” (Matthew 11:20-24). Repentance, then, is the decisive act for sinful man. Simon Peter denied our Lord three times despite the signal favour he had been shown. But he repented and went on to sanctity. Judas Iscariot betrayed our Lord, despite the exalted vocation that was his as one of the Twelve. If only he had repented! If he had, he too would have gone on to sanctity and probably martyrdom. He did not repent.

Man’s fulfilment of his vocation depends on repentance. He is a sinner by nature, for his nature is fallen. He is restored to grace by Baptism, but his inclination to sin remains. This is the struggle ahead, and it is the struggle for all mankind and society. Marx had no idea of this. Grace is given man to enable him to gain the victory, and it is imperative that he mount the struggle every day. Repentance is the key. He must repent every day of the smallest deliberate sin, starting ever again. It is through repentance that he will carry the day.

(E.J.Tyler)

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A Second Reflection: (Isaiah 7:1-9)

Fear Consider the intervention of the prophet Isaiah. A great crisis faces the city of Jerusalem. Aram and Pekah are advancing against it. The "heart of the king and the hearts of the people shuddered as the trees of the forest shudder in front of the wind." And what happened? God sent the prophet to tell the king to "keep calm, have no fear, do not let your heart sink because of these two smouldering stumps of firebrands." They were not to fear. It is useful to read the passages throughout the Scriptures in which God tells man not to fear. Our Lord often tells his disciples not to fear. We remember his words to them during the storm on the Lake. God wants us not to be troubled.

It is different for those who are not heeding the voice and commandments of God. They have every reason to fear. As the prophet says to King Ahaz, speaking in the name of God: "But if you do not stand by me, you will not stand at all." The premonitions of conscience and the words of our Lord in various passages of the Gospel, such as in Matthew 11:20-24, make this clear. So then, let us trust in Jesus, and fear to commit sin.

(E.J.Tyler)

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