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The first reflection in this series traced the biblical pattern of receiving an inheritance of righteousness from the Lord. After one receives that inheritance, it also can be handed on (traditio, in Latin) to others. Indeed, it needs to be handed on! Thus, here, we examine the way this inheritance inspires us to act, especially after we have received a life-changing inheritance from the Lord. Because it is so impactful, we feel impelled to hand on that same inheritance to others in the hope that their lives will be transformed also.
As in the previous reflection, it is possible—necessary, even—to trace the biblical pattern of handing on the inheritance of righteousness to others. From the ancient Israelites to the first generation of apostolic Christianity, the Sacred Scriptures offer wisdom and guidance for sharing the inheritance of righteousness with future generations. The examples we find there surely can assist us now as we seek to equip the next generation for building and spreading the Kingdom of God here on earth. Only a few highlights need occupy our attention here.
Before moving forward, one emphatic caveat is necessary. No one who has received the inheritance of righteousness from the Lord believes it is his own to bestow or withhold. Rather, he simply sees himself (or she sees herself) as a conduit of grace, assisting another person to encounter the Lord in a similar way, in a way that leads to fruitful joy. This is true of the biblical examples listed below, too.
We witness the pattern of ensuring and establishing righteousness for the next generations in Moses, the great Israelite leader. In his speeches before entering the Promised Land, which are recorded in Deuteronomy, Moses reminds God’s people that the great Shema prayer was for the next generation. “You shall teach [the words of the prayer] diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way…” (Dt. 6:7). It was to be handed on, not kept for oneself or only one generation. Teaching diligently and speaking openly in ordinary settings—like the dinner table and car rides—are the ways future generations can know and remember what God has done for them.
This pattern is exemplified also by King David, the man Israel knew to be their worthiest leader and example. When David was near death, he handed on a message of righteousness, an inheritance, to his son. He told Solomon, “Be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn…” (1 Kg. 2:1-4). The king knew that walking in God’s ways, keeping His commandments in virtuous action, was an effect of the righteousness God had gifted to him. And, he spoke to ensure his son knew the same.
As the one who has received the spiritual inheritance from his father, Solomon’s response is noteworthy. He recognized what his father had handed to him, and he appropriated it for his own life. When he was offered his choice of gift by the Lord, Solomon requested wisdom because he knew that would help him imitate his father’s righteousness: “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you” (1 Kg. 3:3-7). Following this admission, his construction of the biblical Proverbs shows an effort to maintain his own righteousness and that of his people. He desired to equip the next generations with wisdom and practical advice that would help maintain right relationship with the Lord.
This pattern of fathers handing on wisdom and righteousness to their sons and generations after finds one of its best expressions in the Wisdom of Sirach, a text that emanates Alexandria, Egypt, and the Jewish diaspora in the second century B.C. It was written by a man (named Jesus, interestingly enough) who had devoted himself “to the reading of the Law and the Prophets and the other books of our fathers,” and thus was “led to write something pertaining to instruction and wisdom…” (Sirach Prologue). He sought to do that specifically for the scattered Jewish people to remain in right relationship with God despite not being able to engage in Temple worship.
In a section pointing back David as covenant mediator—the one who fostered relationship with God and passed on that righteousness to the people—the author of Sirach writes, “May the Lord grant you wisdom in your heart to judge his people in righteousness, so that their prosperity may not vanish and that their glory may endure throughout their generations” (Sir. 45:26). Note again the pattern of receiving grace and then turning to bestow grace on others.
Because traditio was integral to the Hebrew-Jewish tradition, it is integral to Christianity, too. Thus, we see this same effort in the nascent Christian Church. As in so many cases, we find the paradigm specifically in St. Paul’s apostolic letters. In his letter to the Church at Ephesus, Paul exhorted fathers to “bring [your children] up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). Such discipline and instruction was almost certainly a reference to the Shema prayer that Israelites were to teach to their children; to the whole Torah that allowed the nation and individuals to remain in covenant relationship with God; to the examples of great leaders like Moses, Joshua, David; and to the calls for conversion from prophets like Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others.
Yet, it is in St. Paul’s letter to Timothy, his “true child in the faith” (1 Tim. 1:2), where we see the inheritance of righteousness passed on most clearly. In the second half of that letter, particularly, Paul instructs his protégé on what it means to be righteous, and how he might equip others for righteousness as well. The elder exhorts the younger, “Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness…[which] holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come” (1 Tim. 4:7-8). The “irreverent, silly myths” were the intellectual and religious fashions of the ancient world, which he identified and explained in other segments of his letters.
The Apostle concludes his first letter to Timothy by exhorting the young bishop: “Pursue righteousness, godliness,” and “be generous and ready to share” so the people he serves will be able to store up “treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life” (1 Tim. 6:11, 19). Clearly, St. Paul’s goal is to build up others, even if they are not his biological children, so they may receive and benefit from the inheritance of righteousness. Clearly, this spiritual inheritance is paramount to all else.
All this evidence from the biblical narrative of salvation history and mission ought to provide encouragement and inspiration. By reading and pondering the examples in these texts, we receive a better idea of our disposition and actions. We are offered an inheritance of right, flourishing relationship with the Lord, and we are asked to take up a posture of humility to receive what God intends for each of us. After receiving it in our own lives, we will naturally be impelled to turn and imitate the examples of Moses, King David, Solomon, the author of Sirach, and St. Paul, preparing the next generation to receive that same gift.
Image from Wikimedia Commons
