Testing Him

Testing Him

Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Let your acquaintances be many, but one in a thousand your confidant…A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure. A faithful friend is beyond price, no sum can balance his worth. A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds; For he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself. (Sirach 6:6, 14-16)

They were testing him. Mark 10:2C

Piety

Study

As we read in the notes from the NABRE about Ben Sirach’s poem to friendship: True friends are discerned not by prosperity (v. 11), but through the trials of adversity: distress, quarrels (v. 9), sorrow (v. 10) and misfortune (v. 12). Such friends are rare, a gift from God.

The testing alluded to in Sirach comes back to revisit Jesus.  The Pharisees are testing Jesus to see if he is “one of them.”  However, they are testing Jesus to trap Jesus and pounce on the least morsel of an answer that violates Hebrew Law.  The Pharisees are not testing Jesus to develop a deep, lasting friendship.

Sirach’s poem describes the Pharisees, Disciples and especially Judas to a “Tee.”

For one sort is a friend when it suits him, but he will not be with you in time of distress. (Peter denied Jesus three times)

Another is a friend who becomes an enemy and tells of the quarrel to your shame. (Judas)

Another is a friend, a boon companion, who will not be with you when sorrow comes. (The rest of the disciples ran away.)

Action

Thinking back to my Cursillo weekend, the words of the talks echo in my mind.

Make a friend. Let your acquaintances be many.

Be a friend. A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter.

Bring a friend to Christ. For he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself.

Life is testing us. Remember to talk to Jesus about your friend before talking to your friend about Jesus.

Has it really been four years since Cursillo lost one of its most faithful friends and sturdy shelters?  Remember Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ, and his friendship this week.  He posed one of the greatest Cursillo/Christian test questions for us: “Am I really willing to be who Christ would have been if He had been lucky enough to be me?”