Sirach 35:1-20: a reflection

1He who keeps the law multiplies offerings. He who heeds the commandments sacrifices a peace offering. 2He who returns a kindness offers fine flour. He who gives alms sacrifices a thank offering. 3To depart from wickedness pleases the Lord. To depart from unrighteousness is an atoning sacrifice. 4See that you don’t appear in the presence of the Lord empty. 5For all these things are done because of the commandment. 6The offering of the righteous enriches the altar. The sweet fragrance of it is before the Most High. 7The sacrifice of a righteous man is acceptable. It won’t be forgotten. 8Glorify the Lord with generosity. Don’t reduce the first fruits of your hands. 9In every gift show a cheerful countenance, And dedicate your tithe with gladness. 10Give to the Most High according as he has given. As your hand has found, give generously. 11For the Lord repays, and he will repay you sevenfold. 12Don’t plan to bribe him with gifts, for he will not receive them. Don’t set your mind on an unrighteous sacrifice, For the Lord is the judge, and with him is no respect of persons. 13He won’t accept any person against a poor man. He will listen to the prayer of him who is wronged. 14He will in no way despise the supplication of the fatherless or the widow, when she pours out her tale. 15Don’t the tears of the widow run down her cheek? Isn’t her cry against him who has caused them to fall? 16He who serves God according to his good pleasure will be accepted. His supplication will reach to the clouds. 17The prayer of the humble pierces the clouds. until it comes near, he will not be comforted. He won’t depart until the Most High visits and he judges righteously and executes judgment. 18And the Lord will not be slack, neither will he be patient toward them, until he has crushed the loins of the unmerciful. He will repay vengeance to the heathen until he has taken away the multitude of the arrogant and broken in pieces the sceptres of the unrighteous, 19until he has rendered to every man according to his deeds, and repaid the works of men according to their plans, until he has judged the cause of his people, and he will make them rejoice in his mercy. 20Mercy is as welcome in the time of his affliction, as clouds of rain in the time of drought.

This passage says two things about God that belong together. First, he is utterly impartial: the Lord is a judge who shows no favoritism, who cannot be bribed by anyone's gifts. And second, precisely because of that, he hears the ones the world tends to overlook: he will not ignore the plea of the orphan or the widow when she pours out her story.

Notice the picture it gives of the lowly person's prayer: the prayer of the humble pierces the clouds, and it will not rest until it reaches its goal. There is no line where the important people are served first. The wronged, the fatherless, the widow with no one to speak for her, their cry goes straight up and pierces the heavens, and God attends to it. The one the world does not listen to is heard directly by God.

That is a steadying word if you are the overlooked one, the person with no advocate, whose cause no one seems to take up. The God of this passage does not weigh your prayer by your standing. Your humble, honest cry pierces the clouds and reaches him, and he is a righteous judge who hears the wronged. And it is also a summons: to give cheerfully and to be the kind of person who, like God, does not despise the lowly. Pray as one who is heard, and treat others as ones God hears.

Lord, you show no favoritism and you hear the cry of the overlooked. When I feel unheard and without advocate, remind me that the prayer of the humble pierces the clouds and reaches you. And make me one who, like you, does not despise the lowly.