scripture reflections

Reflections on Christian bible readings

Tuesday, First Week of Advent

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Isaiah 11:1-10, Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17, Luke 10:21-24

Today’s first reading is all about the coming of the future king and his reign. Isaiah is the ultimate Advent reading. It is the basis of Advent, telling us what is to come and what to look for. If we have mistakenly romanticized Christmas into a season of gift giving and family get-togethers, Isaiah reminds us that we are waiting for a completely different world, a paradise of peace and joy.

In terms of Advent we are still waiting for something that we think has already taken place. We treat Advent as routine, part of getting ready for Christmas. However, Advent is asking us to wait for something much bigger; not bigger than Christmas properly understood but bigger than our usual operational understanding of Christmas. Advent and Isaiah want us to see a new world that looks like Eden, a paradise. It is a world where calves and lions walk together, where children play with once deadly snakes, where the poor are treated fairly and there is “no harm or ruin” on the earth. That is the world we are looking for.

Yet in Luke’s gospel Jesus is telling his disciples that they are already seeing what the prophets wanted to see. They have just returned from their mission to spread the Gospel and they have been wildly successful, even casting out spirits. They have participated in knowing God, they have taken part in revealing God’s kingdom. However, for us, two thousand years later, this anticipated heaven doesn’t appear to be present. God’s reign is not yet. So how is Isaiah’s prophesy and Luke’s gospel helpful for us today? What message can we take away?

It is an understanding that Jesus is both the media and the message. His existence is what we need to know about ourselves and our relationship with God. When Isaiah talks about all the gifts of the Spirit that will be given to the expected Messiah, to Jesus, he is revealing what is available to all of humanity. This is also what Jesus is thanking his Father for in Luke, when he says, “you have revealed these things to the childlike,” i.e. to ordinary people, to everyone. That’s what Jesus is also saying to his disciples, when he says they are blessed because they can actually see what Jesus, the Messiah, is doing and as a result they are in a position to do the same thing. Kings and prophets before Jesus only thought in terms of a future possibility, an imagined future in which they hoped to see God act in their world. However, that’s what the disciples actually have in front of them, the living expression of God in the world.

If we believe that’s true, that the person Jesus is God operating in the world, then we are also in a position to live that reality. To spread that way of living, to act out of that love and presence which is available to us in the Spirit. No, the world is not the idyllic paradise we might imagine. Yet when and where people have lived the life of love and care for others, their piece of the planet has been changed. You know the famous examples: Dorothy Day, Mother Teresa, Thomas Merton, and the many official saints. You also probably know people you admire who have changed their part of the world, people who have made a difference. These are happy, enthusiastic, devoted people who recognize the gift they have and share it. That’s something we can all do and it can make a difference to this world’s day to day reality.

Monday, First Week of Advent

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

 Isaiah 2:1-5, Psalm 122:1-9 and Matthew 8:5-11

We have just begun Advent so when I heard the last line from Isaiah, “let us walk in the light of the Lord,” I thought it said exactly what we need right now. The earlier part of Isaiah says what walking in the light of the Lord is all about: putting aside hostilities, getting along with everyone and doing what God says is the right thing. It is behavior attuned to the divine that yields the peace of the Lord and builds a City of God.

The most concrete example in today’s readings is the behavior of the centurion. This man is a Roman army officer, he’s in charge of 100 men. In this time and place he could have anything he wants. He has real power over not just his soldiers but could force his will on any of the locals he chose. Yet he comes to Jesus not only respectfully but humbly. He is also apparently aware of the fact that if a Jew entered a Gentile house they were considered ritually unclean.

The centurion asks as one without power or privilege. However, he asks confidently believing that Jesus doesn’t even have to enter his house to do what he wants. This is how the centurion walks in the light of the Lord. He asks out of his concern for his servant who is paralyzed and suffering at home. He asks with no other qualifications. I think that is often hard to do, to come before God, leaving status, privilege, and one’s attitude behind. To ask out of our concern alone trusting that God can accomplish what is needed.

Our Psalm today is all about having peace and prosperity. Living in God’s city. Jerusalem is meant to be the image of what we would call heaven. I want to suggest that heaven shouldn’t just be an image we have of our life after death. But rather we must consider that Jesus and Scripture are trying to tell us something about what God wants for us here and now. Especially if you consider that most of what makes up our peace and prosperity comes from within.

The Psalm is very explicit about this when it says, ‘Peace be within you.” I think that the image of Jerusalem may well be the ideal of how changing our attitudes could change who we are and how we deal with the world and all the everyday issues that aren’t very peaceful. What if we approached life as humbly as the centurion? What if we were willing to hear what God is saying to us and were willing to accept the paths God lays out before us?

This is one of the first days of Advent, a time in which we wait for the light of Christ to be born into the world. Perhaps it’s time to consider that the birth this year could well be within us. We too can walk in the light of God and experience a birth that comes about when we, like the centurion, humbly ask for healing from whatever suffering has harmed part of our lives. Maybe then it will be easier to see and hear what God is doing for us. “Let us walk in the Light of the Lord.”

Tuesday, Thirty-third Week of Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

2 Maccabees 6: 18-31, Psalm 3:2-7 Luke 19: 1-10

Today’s Gospel is about how Zacchaeus, a very rich man, forgets about his wealthy trappings and climbs a tree just to get a look at Jesus and then is changed when Jesus comes to his house. It is a story that says if Jesus comes to stay with us anything is possible. Even rich people will become generous. It says salvation is the work of God.

So maybe we should look at the first reading to see what it might tell us and perhaps it will add something to the Gospel story. The reading from Maccabees is very focused and detailed. It tells us about one incident in the life of one man. Eleazar, an old man and a scribe, is asked to eat the pork of a pagan sacrificial offering. He is respected and a friend of the king’s officials and they give him a way to get around the king’s rules. They offer him a way out … bring some of your own meat and pretend it is from the sacrifice. Eleazar however understands how pretending to comply compromises everything he stands for. To pretend to eat the forbidden meat although not actually doing it is to say that the king’s rules are more important than what God asks.  It sounds like a clever legal maneuver. Look like you’re complying but don’t actually do what is being asked and therefore satisfy your conscience while giving the larger society what it demands, the appearance of compliance.

His friends are trying to help but they don’t understand the deeper issue. For Eleazar’s friends it’s only appearance that counts. So if you look like you’re doing the things others expect then even if you’re actually doing something else, who cares?  I think we see a lot of this today. Public figures in sports, politics, and entertainment seem to only be concerned with appearances. What records they can break, whether they are elect-able, what the press says about them, that is what counts not their actual behavior or positions or values. Each situation seems to be guided solely by how much a person can get away with. Clever words and phrases seem to do a slight of hand. They spin the facts. Public behavior like that suggests we would be foolish not to act the same way.

It is here that I think we can connect with our friend Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus the rich man was changed by having Jesus come to his house but Zacchaeus showed who he was long before Jesus actually came to his house. Zacchaeus, the rich tax collector, certainly didn’t worry about what people would think when he started running ahead of the crowd and enthusiastically climbed a tree. Zacchaeus acted on something that called him to discover what was new with this Jesus. Zacchaeus, like Eleazar, wasn’t constrained by what his friends in high places would say. He wasn’t guided by appearances. He didn’t have to give up his life like Eleazar but he was abandoning any pretense of reserve or wealthy position or even ordinary decorum Zacchaeus went with his heart, his excitement. His unabashed eagerness took him to a new life. In much the same way, Eleazar’s enthusiasm for God took him to a new life.

We may never be asked to give up our life as a sacrifice to be Christian but we may have to reveal and act openly on the commitments we have and the values we hold. Let’s pray we can break from the crowd and climb whatever it takes so we will be able to see what life is asking of us.

Friday, Thirty-second Week of Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Wisdom 13:1-9, Psalm 19: 2-5, Luke 17:26-37

It took me awhile but after working through today’s readings a couple times I came to the conclusion that they are mostly about our missing the point. The readings from Wisdom and Luke’s Gospel seem to come together around how even lovely and pleasant everyday things can distract us from our ultimate objective. Do we notice God behind the scenes or are we simply caught up in the beauty and utility of life around us?

The reading from Wisdom is quite elegant in describing how fire, wind and the luminaries of the sky were thought to be gods in and of themselves. The author names the issue explicitly, “they are distracted by what they see.” The beautiful and powerful forces of nature can be appreciated for themselves but we shouldn’t stop at a superficial analysis. We should acknowledge the even more powerful and inspiring God that created them.

The same is of course true when Jesus is talking about how we live our lives. It is easy to be so caught up with buying, selling, eating, drinking, getting married, caught up in all the good things, that we miss the point of the exercise. Doing what God put us here to do. What’s more we can’t be clever about picking and choosing our time for compliance. There’s no radar detector that will tell us when the state trooper is waiting to catch us speeding. We have to adopt an ongoing attitude of care for others, which is the way God operates, or we are likely to get caught at the most ordinary of moments with the call to eternal life.

I don’t think we should interpret this as God’s effort to catch us when we least expect it. No, Jesus is trying to restate and make it clear for human relationships what Wisdom has already said, that beneath the surface of all that happens, God is part of the picture. I think today the question could be: Are we noticing God and God’s desire for us as we go about each day’s activities, each day’s decisions. If we think we can wait until later or another time to bring God into the picture, there’s no way to go back and rescue what we have neglected. All we can ever do is deal with what is presented to us today. Are we acting now, the way we know God asks us to act? Are we paying attention to the needs to which love and justice expect us to respond? Who crosses our path that we could help? What happens in our part of the world that we could change? God may not expect us to change the whole world. However, God does expect us to live in our part of it as one who cares and sacrifices to make it better.

Let’s not miss the point of our life, let’s go below the surface and recognize all that God provides and all that God asks us to do as well.

Monday, Twenty-ninth Week, Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Romans 4: 20-25, Luke 1: 69-75, Luke 12: 13-21

Luke’s Gospel today presents a story that is very straight forward. I suspect it’s not something any of us would disagree with. Life, specifically the value of our life, does not consist of our possessions. Although in Jesus’ time the common Jewish belief would have been that rich people were blessed by God and poor people suffered because of their sinfulness. Two thousand years of Christianity has helped us realize that being holy isn’t connected with wealth or possessions. St. Francis and Mother Theresa of Calcutta are easy examples of the ideal that we should, in fact, give up possessions and devote ourselves to helping others.

Clearly however, the story of the rich man building bigger barns to hold the wealth of his harvest hasn’t exactly deterred anyone from buying bigger cars or bigger homes or fancier watches. Even so I don’t think that’s a message we need to belabor today. We all know what we’re not supposed to do. We’re not supposed to put our hopes for the future, hopes for an eternal life in possessions or riches. Instead I wondered about the specifics of what we are being asked to do. That may not be so clear. The last line of the Gospel says we should be “rich in what matters to God.” The question is, what should we be rich in?

My own tendency was to think in terms of charitable works. I think we often think about doing what God’s wants in terms of giving to others, being generous, doing things for others. That’s a big part of the Catholic and Christian faith. But actively helping others is the outcome of having some treasure. I mean when you are rich you can give things away. If you have lots of money then you can give money to charity. If you have a sincere love for someone you can give that person love. If you have time you can spend more of your time with others. In order to give of ourselves we must first have something to give otherwise we’re just trying to build up another kind of treasure for ourselves. We could be trying to earn value in God’s eyes or status among our peers, instead of acting out of love. So I don’t think giving to others, certainly a good thing in itself, is actually the answer.

I think today’s other readings tell us what kind of treasure God values. In the letter to the Romans, Paul says Abraham was considered righteous because he believed that God would do what he said. It was Abraham’s trust in God that God valued. In the same way Paul says when we believe in Jesus as the one who died and has risen we are putting faith in God the same way Abraham did. Do we believe that God has come to his people? That God will save us from our enemies, from those who hate us. Do we trust that God is with us in all that life brings? Do we live our lives based on the trust that we are not alone or unsupported? That is the kind of trust that Abraham had and when we have it we are rich in what God matters to God. If we believe in God’s active presence in our lives then we will have the possibility of feeling supported and loved and cared for and therefore free to live out of that love and support. Then we will have the treasure that God values.

Friday: Thirty-fourth week in Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

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.

Friday, Thirty-second Week of Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

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

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

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.

Tuesday, Twenty-seventh Week of Ordinary Time

~ Retired Bill ~ Leave a comment

Galatians 1:13-24, Psalm 139: 1-3, 13-15, Luke 10:38-42

I think the Psalm response this morning is our best guide for talking about the readings. It says, “Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.” I think that’s what happening for both Paul and Mary and Martha. It’s what happened to a rich kid who renounced his wealth to live as St. Francis the street beggar and in crucial ways rebuild the church. It is, of course, what happens for us too if we listen and examine what life presents for us.

In Paul’s letter to the Galatians he is giving them a little background on his life’s story. He was a Jew persecuting Christians until God reveals Jesus to him. After that he begins proclaiming Jesus to the Gentiles. What a shift! That’s an amazing change, a full 180 degree turn to go the opposite direction. He goes from persecuting Christians to converting people to Christianity.

I think it simply demonstrates that you can never really tell where God might take you. For Mary it seems a lot simpler. She decides to sit by Jesus instead of doing the usual work of serving. Mary having met Jesus responds by wanting to listen to what he says. Clearly Luke wants to emphasize that Mary has chosen the better part. But I don’t think we should try to draw broad conclusions about the relative value of physically active work versus reflective, contemplative processes. The immediate point to the story is Mary’s decision to give her time to Jesus instead of doing what another person expected her to be doing.

Sometimes we are presented with an opportunity that demands attention. Sometimes a blessing, a gift, is bigger than what we, and perhaps others, have considered our obligation. Remember the Psalm response, “Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.” The way may not be what we expect. Personally, I think the challenge is to decide if what is presented will bring us closer in our relationship with God or not. Which for me is measured by whether I’m happier and more at peace with myself. For Mary, she probably returned to help her sister after Jesus left. But for the time Jesus was there, she did not hesitate to just sit and listen. To take advantage of the moment.

Let us also not forget that this behavior breaks the social norms of the time and would probably have been ridiculed by more than a sister. Women weren’t involved in education and, in fact, had no standing or rights to own anything except through a husband or son. Mary was taking a risk and Jesus is saying something about the equality of women. Women, and all people without power, deserve to hear God’s word, they have a right to sit at the table too and not just be servants, something very radical and probably upsetting at the time.

“Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.” It’s a very good prayer. Guide me Lord. God surely has the best perspective on which is the best path for us each day. However, I also was caught by the last two words, the “everlasting way.” It suggests there will always be something coming, something new, an unexpected path opening up. Karl Rahner, a renowned Jesuit theologian, claimed that even in heaven we would be on a journey, forever getting closer to God, never arriving at complete union with God but always, always on the way, closer and closer. For us it is the way to keep life interesting and exciting, perfectly guided on that everlasting way.