Word of the Week

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Exalt: Hupsoo (Gk.): meaning, “to exalt, lift up.”

The Catechism makes clear the meaning of exaltation. The CCC states: “In the most mysterious way God the Father has revealed his almighty power in the voluntary humiliation and Resurrection of his Son, by which he conquered evil…it is in Christ's Resurrection and exaltation that the Father has shown forth ‘the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe’” (Eph. 1:19-22) (CCC, 272). Quoting Paul from his First Letter to the Corinthians, the CCC further states in the same paragraph: “Christ crucified is thus ‘the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men’” (1 Cor.1:24-25) (272).  That being said, the passage way into this exaltation, by way of humiliation, is prayer (cf. 2559). Thus, in gratitude, following the footsteps of Mary, we submit ourselves in worship to God that we would be set free from the slavery of false idolatry (cf. 2097).

The Greek term hupsoo can be found twenty times in the New Testament. A term that is tied to one of the great lessons of Christian discipleship, exaltation is the centerpiece to the gospel message. Christ’s words for this Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time: “for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Lk.18:14; cf. Mt.18:4, 23:12) are the most succinct personal commentary to Christ’s own abasement in his paschal mystery. For this reason, we are to assimilate our very lives into the poverty of Christ’s dereliction, which leads to our own resurrection (cf. Jn. 3:14, 8:28, 12:32). Particular to the context of the aforementioned passage, the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Christ reveals the way in which we are to achieve this life in Christ by affirming the humble request of the tax collector who was seeking God’s mercy (cf. Lk.18:13). Christ was explicit to challenge the mindset of the Pharisaic cult that gave more honor to the letter of the law then the spirit of the law (cf.  Lk.18:14). Interestingly, Luke had already established the mark of a true Christian disciple by recounting the words of Christ in his Parable on the Invitation to the Marriage Feast. There, Christ makes clear that Christian greatness is measured by lowliness and a very modest estimation of self (cf. Lk.14:7-14; Jas.4:6; 1 Pet.5:6) (Hahn and Minch, 135). Consequently, why we turn to Mary as the icon of humility (cf. Lk.1:46-56).

Today’s gospel teaches us a lesson on expectation (fittingly, paradox literally means “against or contrary to expectation”). Certainly, one might expect the tax collector, a second class citizen for his participation in a politically corrupt system, to be the character in this story that would be the one to go home unjustified, but he was not. Point in fact, it was the self-righteous Pharisee who went home unjustified. That is not to say the tax collector’s lifestyle received God’s blessing, rather, it was his petition for mercy that merited God’s blessing. In short, Christ calls us to expect nothing and give everything. From the cross, Christ teaches us that love is void of expectation and full of acceptance. For this reason, we are to be a people of mercy sharing in Christ’s own brotherhood of mercy. Amen!

“Indeed, it is to the Church herself that the ‘Gift of God’ has been entrusted.... In it is in her that communion with Christ has been deposited, that is to say: the Holy Spirit, the pledge of incorruptibility, the strengthening of our faith and the ladder of our ascent to God.... For where the Church is, there also is God's Spirit; where God's Spirit is, there is the Church and every grace.”

--St. Irenaeus of Lyons

Primary Texts Consulted

•  Catholic Bible. Suggested trans. Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition.
•  Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition, 1997.
• Hahn, Scott and Minch, Curtis. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament, RSV, 2nd ed. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2010.

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