The first reading from the book of Wisdom today says, “Hearken, you who are in power over the multitude and lord it over throngs of peoples! Because authority was given you by the Lord and sovereignty by the Most High, who shall probe your works and scrutinize your counsels. Because although you were ministers of his kingdom, you judged not rightly.” The entire reading from the book of Wisdom today is a warning to leaders of nations, the leaders of God’s people, and it applies to many other leaders in politics and business as well.
This warning is not meant to threaten, intimidate or demand anything. It is simply meant to be a wake up call. Maybe a leader thinks he is doing God’s will, but it might not actually be so. Or perhaps there is something God wants or expects from them, that a leader has ignored. Leaders are often pretty good at scrutinizing those under their authority, but God Himself scrutinizes the leader. Leaders may seem like they are not accountable to anyone else, yet they are. They will be held accountable by God for their actions. He does not fear the powerful, whether they are great or small.
However, God is not condemning anyone in this reading from the book of Wisdom, He is simply calling them to listen to Him. “To you, therefore, O princes, are my words addressed that you may learn wisdom and that you may not sin.” Wisdom is a completely different thing than education, experience, rules, regulations and management skills, whether that is in politics, business or the Catholic church.
God calls everyone to holiness, “For those who keep the holy precepts hallowed shall be found holy and those learned in them will have a ready response.” However, God does not want leaders to become too comfortable in their own understanding and judgements. “Desire therefore my words; long for them and you shall be instructed.” Note the word ‘instructed’. God Himself wants to teach leaders. Without His guidance, human affairs can not be conducted in a manner that is in keeping with His will. This isn’t anything new, but what is new is the reminder we have in the scriptures today to listen to what God wants and not decide for ourselves what we think is best.
When these verses in scripture flow into the gospel today, they do seem to apply to those who guide the Church in a special way. If you read the gospel from Christ’s perspective and through his example, it changes everything. A group of lepers pleaded with Christ for something they wanted, that they knew no one else was capable of doing for them. Jesus did not ignore their pleading, nor did he ignore their needs. He did the right thing. Jesus healed them.
The next thing Jesus did is an example for all of us. “And when he saw them, he said, Go show yourselves to the priests.” Jesus Christ respected the leaders of his day. Yes, the priests were the ones who inspected lepers to see if they had leprosy or not. The lepers were cleansed along the way and the priests would need to witness it and make it official before the lepers could rejoin the community again. But, Jesus still respected their authority. Throughout the gospels, Jesus respected authority. He might not have liked certain leaders or how they acted, but he respected their authority.
If you are a leader, the next time someone comes to you and pleads with you for something, then maybe you could listen to them and discern God’s will for that situation before you say no. Jesus almost always tried to accommodate people’s requests if it was at all possible. He said “yes” many more times than he said “no” because he genuinely loved people more than the rules of his time.
The majority of us are followers though, especially the laity in the Catholic church, most workers on their jobs, and as a citizen of our country. We need to trust our leaders to make the right decisions. They will answer to God if they don’t. Let us leave it in God’s capable hands if our leaders do not judge rightly. Our leaders do not answer to us, they answer to a power higher than us.
Daily Mass Readings:
Wis 8: 1-11 / Ps 82: 3-4, 6-7 / Lk 17: 11-19
