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The Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

In today’s first reading, we listen to the prophet Zephaniah speak against a corrupt Jerusalem. In his time, which was in the 600’s B.C., religious practices completely alien to the pure monotheism taught by Moses flourished as men embraced old idolatries and worshiped objects such as the sun, moon, and stars.

Against this idolatry, the prophet commands his fellow Israelites to seek God in humility because impending doom is surely to come upon Jerusalem as punishment for such widespread idolatry. In 587 B.C., Jerusalem and its glorious Temple were indeed completely destroyed by the Babylonian armies. The inhabitants within and around Jerusalem were then sent into exile to Babylon. This begins the Babylonian captivity.

While the LORD does indeed punish sin, he also promises mercy: “But I will leave as a remnant in your midst a people humble and lowly, who shall take refuge in the name of the LORD” (Zeph 3:12). As a sort of redemptive punishment, the Babylonian captivity taught the exiled Israelites to hope in the LORD alone. Not in astrology. Not in material goods. Not in any other power or force other than the One who sustains everything in being through his divine providence. The exile taught Israel to be humble, to be servant-like… basically, to embrace a holy way of life.

Jesus – the eternal Son of God made man – lived out Israel’s vocation perfectly in complete submission to God the Father as Israel was supposed to do all along. It is through this perfect and divinely lived human life of Jesus that we are saved. He accomplished in human flesh what we could never attain on our own. In and through our Christian Baptism, Jesus then gives us his own divine life and empowers us to become holy.

So far, we have seen that God punishes the sin of prideful idolatry so as to humble his children, to lead them into his own beatitude. In the Gospel (Matthew 5:1-12), Jesus proclaims the Beatitudes, which are blessings given to those who exhibit humility of heart.

Today’s lesson has been summed up beautifully in the words of St. Augustine in his famous Confessions:

How is it, then, that I seek you, Lord? Since in seeking you, my God, I seek a happy life, let me seek you so that my soul may live, for my body draws life from my soul and my soul draws life from you. (10:20)

“God alone satisfies,” said St. Thomas Aquinas. Our ultimate joy rests in (1) recognizing our poverty, (2) falling from the artificial protection of personal pride, and (3) growing in an honest, prayer-filled relationship with God through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. This is the timeless, tried and true lesson of the Saints. It is also the message our world so badly needs to hear.