Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 145

I am the LORD and there is no other,
there is no God besides me. It is I who arm you, though you know me not, so that toward the rising and the setting of the sun people may know that there is none besides me. 
I am the LORD, there is no other.

 

Following the election of the POTUS in 2016, some members of the Christian right identified the winner with Cyrus, the Persian emperor who permitted Jews in Babylon to return to their destroyed Jerusalem. Both men seemed to be anointed – a word meaning chosen, with connotations of Messiah and Christ – although neither knew the Lord. The point of Isaiah’s prophecy is that the All-Powerful God has arranged for the return of the Jews. Cyrus’s pretentions to world-ruling lordship are the illusions of a fool; he is little more than a tool which God uses for his own hidden purposes.

I find fascinating and delightful Isaiah’s statement about the Lord, 

“I am the LORD and there is no other, there is no God besides me.”

Cyrus, had he heard such a statement, might have laughed out loud. The Babylonian armies had destroyed Jerusalem and razed its glorious temple. But the same army had surrendered to the Persian army, apparently without a fight, when Babylon fell. To all appearances the God of Jerusalem had been twice-defeated by the Babylonian gods who were, in turn, displaced by the Persian gods. And this vanquished Jewish god claims Lordship of the Universe? “You and whose army?” Cyrus might have said. 

Saint Paul, writing to the Philippians, might have explained it when he wrote of Jesus,  

...though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.

Rather, he emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave….

 

Saints Luke and Matthew also understood the mystery as they described the birth of a helpless human baby. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger; and spirited into Egypt ahead of Herod’s soldiers. 

This is a “mystery kept secret for long ages but now manifested through the prophetic writings and, according to the command of the eternal God, made known to all nations to bring about the obedience of faith, to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ be glory forever and ever. Amen!”

The German theologian Hans Urs von Balthazar reminded the Church in the twentieth century that God is more powerful than Power, and proves it by shedding it completely. A lesser authority – some kings, emperors, and tyrants – cannot let it go because they’re possessed by it. We have recently seen this farce played out when incumbent presidents refused to leave office when their terms were finished. They rig elections before they happen, or terrorize their legislators into making them president-for-life, as in China and Russia. 

 

As American Catholics prepare for the crisis of November 3, we do well to contemplate this mystery. Neither Cyrus nor Caesar knew anything of God; nor do the major political parties in this contest. They worship the power our God has renounced. They neither love nor serve the Truth; we hear their contempt in Pilate’s sneer.

As Catholic citizens our passion is for Truth, which is one of God’s names. We should pray that God will orchestrate this election and pick the winners, even if we never know why or how he did it. If the Catholic vote is split, as it certainly is, it shows that God sees virtue in every candidate. In any case, we must approach this Day of Judgement with our integrity intact. We will vote as the Holy Spirit directs us, and let God make the choice.