True and False Wisdom (Continuation)
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[16] For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. [17] But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity. [18] And the harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
The Source of Discord
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[1] What causes wars, and what causes fightings among you? Is not your passions that are at war in your members? [2] You desire and do not have; so you kill. And you covet and cannot obtain; so you fight and wage war. You do not have, because you do not ask. [3] You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
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Commentary:
13-18. These verses point out the qualities of Christian wisdom (cf. 1:5). After exhorting his readers to manifest their wisdom by their actions (verse 13), he attacks the signs of false wisdom (verses 14-16) and explains the qualities of the true (verses 17-18).
St. Paul also makes a distinction between worldly wisdom--the wisdom of man when he veers away from his correct goal--and the wisdom of God, which reaches its highest expression on the Cross (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18-3:3). St. James pays particular attention to the practical effects of godly wisdom--meekness, mercy and peace.
False wisdom, on the contrary, leads to bitter zeal, rivalry and resentment: it is "earthly" because it rejects things transcendental and supernatural; "unspiritual" (merely natural, psychi in the original Greek), as befits people who follow their nature as wounded by Original Sin, deprived of the help of the Spirit (cf. notes on 1 Corinthians 2:14-16; Jude 19-20); "devilish", in the sense that such people are inspired by the devil, who is envious (cf. Wisdom 2:24), "a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44).
18. What this verse means is that the "peacemakers" of the Beatitudes (cf. Matthew 5:6 and note) create around themselves an environment making for righteousness (holiness), and they themselves benefit from the peace they sow. "There can be no peace," Pope John XXIII says, "between men unless there is peace within each of them: unless, that is, each one builds up within himself the order wished by God" (Pacem In Terris, 165).
The "harvest of righteousness" is the equivalent of righteousness itself: it is keeping the law of the Gospel, doing good works, which show true wisdom. The passage is reminiscent of Isaiah 32:17-18: "and the effects of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust for ever. My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings and in quiet resting places."
Every Christian who strives to live in accordance with his vocation is a sower of holiness and justice-with-peace: "Through your work, through the whole network of human relations," (St) Monsignor Escriva says, "you ought to show the charity of Christ and its concrete expression in friendship, understanding, human affection and peace. Just as Christ `went about doing good' (Acts 10:38) throughout Palestine, so much you also spread peace in your family circle, in civil society, at work, and in your cultural and leisure activities" (Christ Is Passing By, 166).
1. "Wars" and "fighting" are an exaggerated reference to the contention and discord found among those Christians. "Passions", as elsewhere in the New Testament, means concupiscence, hedonism, pleasure-seeking (cf. verse 3; Luke 8:14; Titus 3:3; 2 Peter 2:13).
St. James points out that if one fails to fight as one should against one's evil inclinations, one's inner disharmony overflows in the form of quarreling and fighting. The New Testament often refers to the good kind of fight, which confers inner freedom and is a prerequisite for salvation (cf., e.g., Matthew 11:12; Romans 7:14-25; 1 Peter 2:11).
"How can you be at peace if you allow passions you do not even attempt to control to drag you away from the 'pull' of grace?
"Heaven pulls you upwards; you drag yourselves downwards. And don't seek excuses--that is what you are doing. If you go on like that, you will tear yourself apart" (St J. Escriva, Furrow, 851).
2-3. St. James is describing the sad state to which free-wheeling hedonism (specifically, greed for earthly things) leads.
"You do not receive, because you ask wrongly": "He asks wrongly who shows no regard for the Lord's commandments and yet seeks Heavenly gifts. He also asks wrongly who, having lost his taste for Heavenly things, seeks only earthly things--not for sustaining his human weakness but to enable him to indulge himself" (St. Bede, Super Iac. Expositio, ad loc.).
Second Prophecy of the Passion
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[30] They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And He (Jesus) would not have any one know it; [31] for He was teaching His disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He is killed, after three days He will rise." [32] But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to ask Him.
Being the Servant of All
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[33] And they came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house He asked them, "What were you discussing on the way?" [34] But they were silent; for on the way they had discussed with one another who was the greatest. [35] And He sat down and called the Twelve; and He said to them, "If any one would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all." [36] And He took a child, and put him in the midst of them; and taking him in His arms, He said to them, [37] "Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me".
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Commentary:
30-32. Although moved when He sees the crowds like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36), Jesus leaves them, to devote time to careful instruction of the Apostles. He retires with them to out-of-the-way places, and there He explains points of His public preaching which they had not understood (Matthew 13:36). Here, specifically, for a second time, He announces His death and resurrection.
In His relationships with souls Jesus acts in the same way: He calls man to be with him in the quiet of prayer and there He teaches him about His more intimate plans and about the more demanding side of the Christian life. Later, like the Apostles, Christians were to spread this teaching to the ends of the earth.
34-35. Jesus uses this argument going on behind his back to teach His disciples about how authority should be exercised in His Church--not by lording it over other, but by serving them. In fulfilling His own mission to found the Church whose head and supreme lawgiver He is, He came to serve and not to be served (Matthew 20:28).
Anyone who does not strive to have this attitude of self-forgetful service, not only lacks one of the main pre-requisites for proper exercise of authority but also runs the risk of being motivated by ambition or pride. "To be in charge of an apostolic undertaking demands readiness to suffer everything, from everybody, with infinite charity" (St J. Escriva, The Way, 951).
36-37. To demonstrate to His Apostles the abnegation and humility needed in their ministry, He takes a child into His arms and explains the meaning of this gesture: if we receive for Christ's sake those who have little importance in the world's eyes, it is as if we are embracing Christ Himself and the Father who sent Him. This little child whom Jesus embraces represents every child in the world, and everyone who is needy, helpless, poor or sick--people who are not naturally attractive.