prayer

Personal prayer for the reader

Wednesday, Third Week of Advent

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Memorial: St. John of the Cross

December 14, 2016

Isaiah 45:6c-8, 18, 21c-25, Psalm 85:9-14, Luke 7:18b-23

All our readings during Advent have had elements of what the Reign of God, the time of the Messiah’s coming, would look like. However, today’s readings step it up to the next level. Salvation and the Messiah are central to what we hear.

As a result I felt a bit overwhelmed with the myriad of images in Isaiah, the Psalm and Luke. However, let me start with Jesus’ response to John’s Messiah question of whether he is “the one who is to come?” I have often wondered why Jesus’ response wasn’t, “Yes, it’s me, you don’t have to look anywhere else.” I mean why not be plain and open about it. Of course, it’s a way for Luke to say something important about how people come to believe in Jesus. Faith isn’t a set of facts about Jesus or God for that matter. Faith is a relationship of trust and it must begin for John in the same way. Jesus message for John is to look at what he can see: the healings, the good that is being done. Those actions are out in the open, can John see what they mean? That’s the point of the last line about not taking offense. John might take them the wrong way. He could come to the conclusion that this guy isn’t bringing the fire and brimstone judgment that John expected. He might dismiss him as not the one.

All of us do the same thing each day. Not necessarily about faith questions. We see something, or someone, and come to a conclusion about its significance, its value, good or bad. We make judgments all the time about whether or not to invest ourselves in projects, ideas, people and relationships. That’s what Jesus is asking of John. Does he see something here that’s worth believing in? The point of religious faith is to ask us the same question. Not just once at a Baptism or Confirmation or at Mass when we say the Nicene Creed, but at every moment in our lives when we have to decide what something is worth.

That is where some of the other images in today’s reading come into play. Isaiah says the earth was made by God not to be wasted but to be lived in. He uses wonderful nature images of a relationship between heaven and earth. Justice falls like rain from heaven and as a result the earth sprouts with its own salvation and justice. Today’s world is, in fact, filled with terrible horrific events. It is also filled with wonderfully generous, productive and life changing events. So do we see the earth, our world, as a good place that God created for us to live in? The text says, “Turn to me and be safe.” Will we turn to God and see that “there is no other” approach that brings about salvation and justice? Or do we take offense at the idea that this world has a good factor that underwrites its very existence? Does what we see lead us to decide that the world is too dangerous and simply not safe? Are we operating out of a fearful outlook that in all likelihood and under normal conditions something will go wrong? That’s a challenge to hope. It’s a challenge we all have to face. Which world is our world?

It’s why we need to hear the Psalm, perhaps today’s strongest message of what salvation, the Christmas we’re waiting for, is all about.

“The LORD … proclaims peace to his people.
Near indeed is his salvation to those who fear him,
glory dwelling in our land.”

“Kindness and truth shall meet;
justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth”

Is this something we’re willing to take to heart? Can we invest our lives in this? Can we trust that if we live as part of God’s plan God will be with us? Is Jesus the one who is to come or should we look for another?

Tuesday, Third Week of Advent

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Memorial: St. Lucy, December 13, 2016

Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13, Psalm 34:2-3,6-7,17-18,19,23, Matthew 21:28-32

The readings today are very reassuring for all of us who take a while to catch on. I would suggest even those of us who were downright belligerent and destructive should rejoice in what is revealed about God’s attitude today. Jesus tells the story very clearly in Matthew. Two sons are asked to work in the vineyard. One says no but then actually does it. The other says yes, to satisfy his father, but doesn’t actually do the work. Even Jesus’ opponents the chief priests and the elders get this right. The one who actually does the work is the obedient son.

Jesus is using the obvious answer to indict the people in power. He’s demonstrating that the way to God is not through position, education or social status but rather by simply responding to God’s offer of forgiveness and love. In this case, the confrontation with John the Baptist is the offered opportunity for these officials. As I see it, the problem was, these people would have had to admit they had taken the wrong path or misjudged John at first. Jesus points out that even in the face of conversions from the destitute and outcasts of society these “smart” people wouldn’t reconsider their opinion of John based on what they saw happening and change their minds.

The key is they wouldn’t change their minds even in the face of good things. The good news for us is, there is room to change our minds, to take a different path. We don’t have to be first “to get” what’s going on in our lives or understand right away the things that have gone wrong. Our lives can develop, mature, take shape and then at some point we can make a change, we can choose what’s really best for us. Maybe that’s what the waiting of Advent is really meant to tell us. It’s OK to be uncertain for now, something better is coming. We need to pay close attention to what is going on in our lives. Then when that marvelous new thing happens, it gives us a chance to choose. That is something we can do, choose.

What is particularly wonderful about this is that God seems to absolutely expect that people and communities will have done the wrong thing. Then against what might be considered normal expectations, God turns around to help make the change happen and promptly forgets everything that’s gone before. That’s what I’m hearing in Zephaniah. Consider this:

“I will change and purify the lips of the peoples … On that day

You need not be ashamed of all your deeds, your rebellious actions against me”

This is a new start. A time when that remnant of humility within us can have a chance to come forward so we can live as one who “speaks no lies” and enjoy the pleasure of having “none to disturb them.”

I don’t think this should actually surprise us given what the Psalms say repeatedly about God saving his people. In this instance the message is strong and to the point:

When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.

 The LORD redeems the lives of his servants;
no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him.

 Please notice that what the voice of God points to in Zephaniah, is exactly the same problem for which Jesus is criticizing the chief priests and elders. Jerusalem is not willing to see what’s going on and refuses to change her mind as a result. Here is how Zephaniah talks about Jerusalem’s offense:

She hears no voice,
accepts no correction;
In the LORD she has not trusted,
to her God she has not drawn near.

 The right course of action is to draw near to God by asking for help, not worrying about what’s gone before, taking the first step, and choosing for ourselves. After all Christmas is coming.

Wednesday, Second Week of Advent

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Memorial: St. Ambrose, December 7, 2016

Isaiah 40:25-31, Psalm 103:1-4, 8, 10, Matthew 11:28-30

Today’s readings are an effort to raise our personal spirits, perfect for those down in the dumps, I’d rather just stay in bed days. Isaiah is very clear that God gives strength to those who faint and energy to those who are weak. Even though the young “stagger and fall … those that trust in the Lord … will run and not grow weary.” Written originally to encourage Israel to hold on to its faith while exiled in Babylon these words are just as important today in helping us remember we are not alone when our own sense of well-being collapses. It seems to me that is the key thing religious faith does: reassures us that we are not on our own, especially in our deepest selves. When feelings and attitudes seem to turn against us, when outside support doesn’t seem to help, then we need to hear that the God, who created the entire world, is on our side and will provide the support no one else can give.

It seems we repeatedly get the message wrong. Historically, Christianity has often doubled down on human sinfulness and guilt instead of emphasizing God’s mercy and forgiveness. We are subject to the broad general attitudes that see religion as a course for moral guidance and proper behavior. That makes it easy to see God as judge and score keeper. Matthew’s gospel for today is a good antidote for that approach, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” It is a theme reinforced in the Psalm, “Merciful and gracious is the LORD … He pardons all your iniquities, he heals all your ills.” That is what I think is meant by redemption, by salvation. God saves us from all we do wrong, from the ideas and attitudes that keep us from being open and loving to others as well as being frightened of a world intended for our happiness. We too often let people, situations and our own experiences drive us to defensive, negative attitudes and actions. Only honesty, perseverance and trust can dig us out. God’s loving presence supports that kind of behavior, that kind of thinking and the sense of well-being that underlies it.

The lesson is exactly what Jesus says in Matthew, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” Jesus is meek and humble not strident and proud, not fighting for advantage in each situation but willing to take what comes as one who trusts that the world itself is good and if anything, tilted in our favor. Can we believe it is possible to be ourselves, work for what we value and actually enjoy a fulfilling life? Will we let the Word of God comfort us and support our hopes, desires and the real challenges we undertake? If we can, then the Gospel will surely be Good News for us.

Friday: Thirty-fourth week in Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Readings

Revelations 20:1-4, 11-21:2, Psalm 84:3-6a, 8a, Luke 21:29-33

I am particularly attracted to the Psalm response for today, because it sums up where we are headed. “Here God lives among his people.” That is an outcome I find comforting because I think it not only refers, as the other readings today do, to our life with God after death but also to the life we live right now. I think the important part is to see the connection, the parallel between our life with God now and our ultimate home with God in the future.

There is nothing that I believe more strongly than that God lives among us right now in every moment of our lives and is available to us in a way that we don’t understand very well and therefore don’t fully appreciate nor respond to. These readings tell us something of what it takes to appreciate that presence.

Part of what we heard today is from the last of the visions of John in the Book of Revelation. As you know he is trying to tell us what will happen at the end of time. It is a mythic picture of what will be the culmination of God’s work. We often talk about the end of time as the time of judgment. It is that but that judgment in our reading today is a description of how all that is evil will be destroyed and all that is good will be rewarded. It is a story meant to take away our fears. Our fears of the devil, Satan, monsters, beasts, of all that is unknown. Even death itself is destroyed. The sea is no more because the sea represents all the forms of chaos in the world. Remember the flood in the Old Testament is how all of life is removed from the earth. So the sea stands for those great uncontrollable forces that ruin life on earth. This is a story of sweeping away all that harmed the people of God’s kingdom and made them fearful.

At the same time those who were faithful to Christ and lived a good life are brought into the kingdom to reign with Christ. Did you hear how judgment would be “according to their deeds?” Twice in a very short space John repeats this “according to their deeds” because that would have been a very radical idea. The norm of the time would have expected the wealthy and the powerful to be rewarded because of their position in society. To judge people by how they acted with each other was still a very new and radical idea.

Our reading of Revelation ends with the culmination of all God’s plans. A new heaven and new earth replace the old heaven and old earth. It is all new, without fear and full of love, just like a bride and groom, fresh, vibrant love that creates new life.

One of the things to notice is that there is a complete disconnect here between what was and what will come after. The old is destroyed and the new is brand new. Nothing is brought over from what was before except the people who have lived a good life and were already living as God asked them to live.

Perhaps in that disconnect is a message for us today. If this story of the culmination of God’s creation is told as a myth, then it is meant to tell us something of ourselves. Something of what will help create that new heaven and new earth in our own lives now. I think that something is our willingness to see our own fears and put them aside. To see the signs of the times, like Jesus’ fig tree and recognize it is time to move on. That all things change and we must be willing to make changes too. Each of us has different monsters and beasts that keep us from being as fully human and loving as we might be. Perhaps if we can let go of what we fear, what holds us, then we can more fully appreciate the deeper reality of our Psalm today, “Here God lives among his people.” The good overcomes evil, deeds can overcome fear. Today the book of Revelation and our Gospel said that’s what God wants for us.

Monday: Thirty-third Week of Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Readings

Revelation 1:1-4, 2:1-5, Psalm 1:1-4, 6, Luke 18:35-43

Well I suspect most of you recognize that we are close to the end of the liturgical Church year. Next Sunday is the celebration of Christ the King and then we start over with Advent. As the Church year comes to an end we hear all these stories about the end of the world and the dire signs that lead up to it. Today’s first reading is in this vein since it comes from the book of Revelation which talks almost exclusively about the end of time and the coming of Christ’s Kingdom.

My sense of today’s readings is that we will always need the help of God to see what we need to do. On our own we go astray but if we keep trying, God will reveal what we thought was hidden.

First of all, as I’m sure you know, the book of Revelation is not intended as prophesy about how the world will end. The writer uses a style known as apocalyptic to strengthen people who are afraid of what is going on at the moment and to encourage a certain way of living. In today’s language he’s trying to scare people straight. We are reading the very beginning of the book and the author is giving corrective instruction to one community of believers. The Ephesians have been steadfast in their faith and have avoided being led astray by false teachers but they have one crucial problem, they have lost the love they had at first. So John says they need to repent and do the works they used to do.

This is a great example of how we can get lost along the way. We start out with great intentions to do good and make the world a better place. But we get so caught up in the task before us that we lose the very thing that brought us to the work. We can’t afford to let the work overpower the love that prompts us in the first place. To accomplish what is truly important we have to stay focused on our source. A close, loving relationship with God only happens with persistence and trust.

This is where the story of the blind man of Jericho comes in. The blind man is the perfect example of persistence and trust. When he first calls out to Jesus for help the crowd tries to quiet him. His response is to call out all the louder so that Jesus will hear him. Once he is brought to Jesus, he is asked what he would like Jesus to do for him. Here again, he does not hesitate or go halfway. He says exactly what his need is, he wants to see. Jesus heals him because of his faith, his trust and persistence.

We need to be able to trust like that. To ask for what really needs healing. Too often, I believe, we are afraid to say what our deepest desire is because we don’t want to be disappointed. We’re afraid God isn’t going to be there for us and perhaps we’re afraid of what change might bring. Let us remember how throughout the Bible God responds to the poor, the outcast and the widow. At least part of the point of those stories is that when we need it most, when we feel lost, forgotten, abandoned that is when God is most likely to be there to lift us up, to heal what is broken in us and provide a lift that is likely to be surprising. Because we don’t always see the patterns we have adopted, the defenses we’ve built to protect what should be shared. In times when we recognize our own need, when we trust that God is the only real answer, that is the time we need to ask for exactly what is missing. To call out and know God will put us back in touch with what we need restoring our peace and the love that is most important to our life.

Memorial: St. Martin of Tours

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Readings

2 John 4-9, Psalm 119: 1, 2, 10, 11, 17, 18, Luke 17: 26-37

 

I have commented before that the situation in which Christians find themselves today isn’t so different from the way things were in New Testament times. The simple reason is that the basics of human nature haven’t changed. What may be more important for us is we can be sure the ways of God haven’t changed either.

John’s second letter is to a community of Christians that is beginning to have doubts. They are beginning to wonder if belief in Jesus is important and whether the commandment to love each other is really the core of faithful living. Other preachers are raising questions and proposing other solutions to life’s challenges. John says they need to live a life of love based on a relationship with Jesus. If not, they will not have God’s message. They will lose what they had.

The Gospel is saying the same thing in more dramatic terms. Stay the course. Hold on to your faith because you never know when all of life may change. Luke puts this in catastrophic terms of floods and fire and brimstone. But the idea is that life and death is involved. I think it’s worthwhile to translate these images into everyday language. We may be tempted to take the physical images too literally and assume we are safe from tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes, even though recent news reports ought to give us pause even on this account. Or to think that Jesus’ is just referring to the end of time or the end of our life.

In this case, the issue is, will all the other things of modern life, today’s progressive ideas, the comfort of our culture eat away at what believing in Jesus and Catholic faith have to offer. Has the course of our life given us an outlook that no longer matches Jesus’ call for a life of love?

I would suggest to you that one important consideration is would I recognize an invitation from God to change my life? Is it possible that while I was in the middle of my everyday life, eating, drinking, buying, selling … that I would recognize the moment when I needed to leave everything behind or lose my life? Could there be times that are that dramatic in my life? Perhaps the situation isn’t dramatic but what is subtle, perhaps what lies just below the surface, may have just as important a consequence.

What if we weren’t talking about moments of physical choice? What if it wasn’t about which job or what relationship or what to do tonight but about, as John’s letter says, how I was walking through my own life? What if I was confronted with a challenge to my current ideas or attitudes? Might I have to change how I think in order to save my life, to stay faithful to the Gospel?

Perhaps the terrifying drama of the Gospel is about how frightening it can be to make significant choices in everyday life? Can I see God’s presence in the challenges to my ideas or the way I am walking through my life?

When the Apostles ask “Where?” they are acting as if the dangers to faith are out there beyond themselves in some physical place or location. But Jesus’ answer suggestions that the challenges to belief, the vultures, are wherever we are. The challenge to life is within ourselves. We need to remember that is also where God is. That is why it is so important to walk through all of life holding on to our faith in God and God’s love. So that when the moment to decide comes, dramatic or subtle, it will be clear what we need to hold on to and what we need to let go of.

Wednesday, Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Readings

Ephesians 6:1-9, Psalm 145:10-14, Luke 13:22-30

These are not warm fuzzy readings today. These are in-your-face readings. Which means we should probably really pay attention. There are two images that stand out for me. Neither of which I like very much. First, in Ephesians, the author is talking about slaves and masters. Second, in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is saying we should work to enter through the narrow gate. Together however they have something we need to hear. Whether we like it or not.

The problem with slaves and masters is that we have finally rejected this arrangement as a society so talking about it in any way other than condemnation sets off emotional and mental resistance. However, translations can make a huge difference. So here is the New Jerusalem Bible version of this slave/master section of Ephesians:

“Slaves, be obedient to those who are, according to human reckoning, your masters, with deep respect and sincere loyalty, as you are obedient to Christ: not only when you are under their eye, as if you had only to please human beings, but as slaves of Christ who wholeheartedly do the will of God. Work willingly for the sake of the Lord and not for the sake of human beings. Never forget that everyone, whether a slave or a free man, will be rewarded by the Lord for whatever work he has done well. And those of you who are employers, treat your slaves in the same spirit; do without threats, and never forget that they and you have the same Master in heaven and there is no favoritism with him.”

I find this slightly easier to read and it helps get us to why I think this matches with the narrow gate idea and can help us face its demands. This passage doesn’t condemn slavery any more than the New American translation but it more clearly demonstrates that the author was upending the slave/master relationship. The text is making slave and master equal before God. Which interestingly puts both the slave and the master under the demand to use that narrow gate. This passage expects both slave and master to act out of a different set of standards, God’s standards. No more threats from the master. Slaves are to work willingly. Because both are under obligations to God that are bigger than their current human relationship. That is one heck of a narrow gate. It is suggestive of the jarringly discontinuous reality Jesus asks us to enter. It is possible this is a bigger challenge than social change. How could people be generous and loving in an inherently unequal slave/master situation? It makes no sense. Yet I think this is the kind of monumental challenge we are asked to confront. The author asks slaves not just to be obedient but act with deep respect and sincere loyalty and then tells masters to do the same thing. This behavior goes way beyond dropping threats as a management tool.

We don’t have institutional slavery today. However, these readings suggest that we must live in a loving, caring, generous way even when our human structures and relationships are tearing us apart. That’s a crazy narrow gate. That’s more than just not going along with what everybody else is doing or saying. It means more than serving on a committee or giving to charity. I think it means looking at people, situations and life goals in a totally different way. A way so different that Luke, like Mark and Matthew, repeats Jesus’ observation that, “some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” It is a total reversal. Are we capable of totally reversing how we think, how we feel, how we operate each day mostly when we aren’t really thinking about it? You know, the run of the mill daily interactions and relationships we take for granted. We can’t do that anymore if we are to change ourselves. We have to change what’s inside, no matter what circumstances, people or situations challenge us. Knowing it’s going to be hard, that it means choosing the narrow gate, maybe we’ll be in a better position to succeed, actually making the tough choice and coming out that narrow gate doing what builds a land flowing with milk and honey. Where everyone’s not only equal but loved, cared for and having a really great time.

 

Friday, Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Readings

Ephesians 4:1-6, Ps 24:1-6, Luke 12:54-59

Today Luke is telling us how frustrated Jesus was that not just the Pharisees but all kinds of everyday people did not recognize the key time of salvation that is before them. And Ephesians is reminding a later church community to preserve the unity that has been given to them.

Jesus asks the question, “You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky; why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” I think there are two issues contributing to resisting Jesus’ call for change.

First, like the Pharisees, people saw God’s action as long ago, something in their Scriptures. The Jews may be the chosen people but God was a power beyond reach. To see God as present in their lives as a person was sacrilegious. I think that problem still happens today, somehow things of Gods are spiritual and separate from the hard knocks of everyday give and take. Jesus’ accuses them of being hypocrites. His examples of what clouds and wind predict, point to what at the time, would have been simple adult awareness of the conditions of life. As we say today, “This isn’t rocket science.” People knew how the world worked. But this also applied to their social environment. The hypocrisy was not admitting that they also knew whether something new and good, was entering their lives. They could tell the difference between good deeds and bad deeds, status quo and significant change. They would know if someone was trying to introduce something new and transformative.

If that’s true, then the second issue is they simply didn’t want to take responsibility. Jesus second question points right at it, “Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?” Jesus’ example suggests that the smart person who is headed to court tries to come to an agreement before she gets there. That way her fate is still in her own hands. Once the judge takes over she will be subject to forces beyond her control. Still we aren’t always so eager to take the responsibility for making life changing judgments on our own. Too often we would prefer to find comfort or a ready answer from some outside authority. Let’s call it an excuse. It’s easier than taking a close look at ourselves. A look that might reveal things we would rather avoid. I’m not suggesting we should make our life decisions without talking to others or without seeking advice. What is important is that we remember that every decision we make, every action we do determines who we are. The stuff we do everyday is our decision. We can’t blame others for the kind of people we become. We too know, if we admit it, “which way the wind blows.”

These readings can remind us there are no separate parts to our lives. It’s all connected and it all contributes to who we are and what we will be tomorrow. It is a reminder of an amazing unity that is a call to us and a comfort. A call to see what is happening around us, to notice how we are reacting, to listen to what is being said and to live up to the gifts God has given us. A comfort in that we are in God’s care no matter what happens. Ephesians itemizes the list: one Body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God, the Father of all, over all, through all, and I think most importantly, in all.

Thursday, Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Readings

Ephesians 1:1-10, Psalm 98:1-6, Luke 11:47-54

All this week in the Gospel readings Jesus has been criticizing the Pharisees for being insincere and taking advantage of their positions. Not surprisingly at the end of today’s Gospel Luke makes the point, “the Pharisees began to act with hostility toward him … they were plotting to catch him in something he might say.” No big surprise, given Jesus’ treatment of them.

Also remember that Pharisees, Scribes and Lawyers were the privileged, the religious elite of their day. They made the rules. So we know Jesus wasn’t afraid to be blunt about things he thought powerful people were doing wrong. But the question is, what does this Gospel have to say to us today?

Of course, nobody today is oppressing others by creating unrealistic demands on them. Nobody puts down people they have power over … wouldn’t that be nice? We are certainly aware of prejudices in society at large, but do we recognize that behavior in ourselves?

Let’s consider, for a moment, Galatians and the Psalm for today. Paul’s letter to the Galatians tells about how God has chosen us and saved us through the action of Jesus. We have come to believe that we are forgiven for things we do wrong and Jesus’ life was an announcement of God’s intention for us to be free, and happy together. If we want to know what is important in this life we simply need to look at Jesus, he sums it up in the way he lived and what he said.

The Psalm is essentially a celebration of the same thing. God saves us from guilt and fear and we should be really happy about it. We have reason to be pleased about our faith, to feel that God has blessed us. That can be a good thing.

I think the question that Jesus is pointing to in the Gospel is this: the Pharisees, Scribes and lawyers all knew the details of their faith, they too knew the history. The prophets were their own people. In fact, they were building monuments to them all the time. But these same Pharisees weren’t paying attention to what that history and what those prophets had to say. They were burying them all over again. They liked the privileges, the power and the prestige that comes with office, they liked knowing they have been saved by their religious practice, by their faith. Or so they thought.

We may not be people who wield political or religious power but we may have to be careful we don’t get too smug about what is ours, whether it’s what we believe, what we think we have or what we have accomplished. We need to remember that Jesus was always fighting for people who were at the edge of society. The people who were outcasts, people who were looked down upon because of how they lived, who they were related to or what they didn’t know. We have to take that seriously. We too, probably have groups of people with whom we are uneasy. People we might refer to as “those people” when we’re with friends. That’s not good. That’s what the Pharisees did. The Pharisees excluded people because “they” didn’t measure up. That’s what we have to think about. I think we have to be very careful about the status quo and what we think is appropriate and proper and required of others before we would accept them. Like asking them to dinner. You may have heard about the 1967 movie, “Guess who’s coming to dinner?” It was about a young white woman who is engaged to a black man and has to bring him home to meet mom and dad who don’t know he’s black. That might be a good way for us to picture the situation. Who would make us uncomfortable if they were seated around our dinner table? And when we consider who might be in that group, let’s just remember that for the Pharisees, at least one of “those” people was Jesus! That’s the mess we get ourselves into when we become privileged.

Monday, Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Today’s Scripture Readings

Galatians 4:22-24, 26-27, 31-5:1, Psalm 113:1b-5a, 6-7, Luke 11:29-32

Today’s readings prove once again that the human condition doesn’t seem to change. At least, I think we are often asking the same questions today that people did when Jesus walked with us physically.

In Galatians, Paul is writing to people who have converted to Christianity from paganism. He wonders why they want to put themselves under the law of Moses instead of Christian freedom. He argues that to put oneself under a set of laws is to become like a slave, while Jesus offers a freedom of one free born. Not a slave.

In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus bemoans the fact that people want a sign, they want proof of who he is. They want proof that what is happening is the work of God. Jesus points to Jonah as the kind of sign they will receive. In Luke the reference to Jonah is about his going to Nineveh to announce the destruction of the city. After just one day the whole city and its King had a change of heart. Jesus is saying that the sign of God’s presence is a change of heart. This kind of change isn’t showy or often very public. It is not the kind of sign that you can seek out in advance for reassurance. It’s a personal lived reality.

The thread that connects these readings for me is that we so often want the comfort of external assurances. The Galatians after coming to believe in Jesus through Paul’s preaching have been talked to by people who were promoting a much more structured religion, Judaism had plenty of rules and regulations that marked whether a person was “clean or unclean.” There were lots of markers so you knew where you stood. Christianity at the time had next to no formal structure. People of all sorts came together, ate together, believed that Jesus opened a new relationship with God and would return to take them all to paradise. All they had was Paul’s word and each other. No Gospels, no bishops, just local leaders who probably had received the Spirit, i.e. who had a change of heart. It is apparent that for a good number of those people having a little more structure felt good. It felt reassuring.

Jesus is saying to the crowd don’t look for external assurances, look for a change of heart. Look for what the Spirit is doing among you. If the preaching of Jonah, a total stranger to Nineveh, can change the ways of a whole city and its King in a single day, what will happen if you believe in me?

So we have Jesus dismayed that people seem to be fixated on the externals. Paul trying to help the Galatians withstand a group that is preaching a Jewish form of Christianity that offers more assurances in the form of Jewish law.

So today, what assurances, what signs do we demand of God? Can we hear the story of the virgin birth or Sarah’s pregnancy with Isaac in her old age and recognize that it is God’s Spirit that gives birth to new life? What are we facing today? What challenges us? Do we think we have to muscle it through on our own? Where is it that the Spirit of God comes into play with everyday problems and losses? Are we mostly looking for outside assurances or could a change of heart be what is needed? Are we even thinking a change of heart might be what is needed? Perhaps we have to face it that if Jesus, the Son of God, was killed on a Cross by the people he wanted to help, a change of heart may be the most challenging choice of all.