The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today bring contrasting images of lamentation over a situation resulting from lack of faith and the healing that is found through humble faith.
Empire history
The Book of Lamentations describes the scene of desolation in Jerusalem after the city is destroyed and the leaders taken into exile.
* [2:19] The poet urges Zion to appeal to the Lord once more on behalf of her dying children. The image of Zion’s children effectively condenses the metaphorical sense of all residents of the city (young and old alike) into the more poignant picture of actual children at the point of death. It was precisely this image, no doubt well known to survivors of besieged cities, that led to the emotional breakdown of both Zion (1:16) and the poet (2:11). The hope is that the Lord will be similarly affected by such a poignant image and respond with mercy.
In the Gospel from Matthew, Jesus encounters a Roman centurion with deep faith in Jesus ability to heal his servant through His Divine command.
* [8:8–9] Acquainted by his position with the force of a command, the centurion expresses faith in the power of Jesus’ mere word.
Mary Lee Brock comments that praying with this gospel gives her peace and a sense of purpose. She can feel the shift to focus on the true role and responsibility in her life which is to have abiding faith. As she thinks about all the actions needed to fulfill her responsibilities, she realizes without faith her efforts are meaningless.
I feel admiration for the centurion who is so clear about his roles. As I wonder how he has such clarity of purpose, I am humbled and inspired by his certainty about his faith. He brings the words we say in liturgy to life: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.” It is the centurion’s faith which gives him clarity. I am not alone in my admiration as Jesus is also amazed by the centurion’s faith. Jesus said to him: “You may go; as you have believed, let it be done for you.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, quotes Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners, who says that “social location often determines biblical interpretation.” No wonder many well-off Christians miss the emphasis on justice, simplicity, and equality throughout Scripture! (Mark 14:7).
They are at the dinner table with a leper, and Jesus is making an assumption about his disciples’ continuing proximity to the poor. He is saying, in effect, “Look, you will always have the poor with you” because you are my disciples. You know who we spend our time with, who we share meals with, who listens to our message, who we focus our attention on. You’ve been watching me, and you know what my priorities are. You know who comes first in the kingdom of God. So, you will always be near the poor, you’ll always be with them, and you will always have the opportunity to share with them.
Our faith is essential to making sense of the culture in which we live and offering transparent witness to joy in living as Jesus disciple. References
The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today celebrate the indispensable men in the formation of the Church, Peter and Paul. The text from the Acts of the Apostles focuses on the persecution of Peter by Herod Antipas in the 1st Century.
* [12:1–19] Herod Agrippa ruled Judea A.D. 41–44. While Luke does not assign a motive for his execution of James and his intended execution of Peter, the broad background lies in Herod’s support of Pharisaic Judaism. The Jewish Christians had lost the popularity they had had in Jerusalem (Acts 2:47), perhaps because of suspicions against them traceable to the teaching of Stephen.
The Pastoral Epistle in Second Timothy compares the life of Paul to the libations poured out to the gods in the culture of his time.
* [4:7] At the close of his life Paul could testify to the accomplishment of what Christ himself foretold concerning him at the time of his conversion, “I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name” (Acts 9:16).
The Gospel from Matthew is the description of the confession of Peter at Caesarea Philippi.
* [16:13–20] The Marcan confession of Jesus as Messiah, made by Peter as spokesman for the other disciples (Mk 8:27–29; cf. also Lk 9:18–20), is modified significantly here. The confession is of Jesus both as Messiah and as Son of the living God (Mt 16:16). Jesus’ response, drawn principally from material peculiar to Matthew, attributes the confession to a divine revelation granted to Peter alone (Mt 16:17) and makes him the rock on which Jesus will build his church (Mt 16:18) and the disciple whose authority in the church on earth will be confirmed in heaven, i.e., by God (Mt 16:19).
Luis Rodriguez, S.J. reflects that oneness of mind and heart speaks of unanimity (uni-animity or one-spirit-ness), not necessarily of uniformity. The apostolic faith planted by both Peter and Paul remained the same in its essentials, but in its details it was not cloned in every one of the many faith communities that sprang from their proclamation.
Each exhibited its own identifying characteristics without being perceived as a threat to unanimity, a growth that in its diversity was seen as guided by the Holy Spirit. Today’s Church extends over clearly diverse societies and cultures and, taking a clue from Peter and Paul, it strives to preserve unanimity. Micromanaging the growth of each local church over the planet may achieve the external impression of uniformity, but, in disregarding what is legitimately proper to the local church, it could hurt unanimity. Unanimity is a gift of the Spirit, uniformity is not. We need Paul’s freedom to disagree with Peter and Peter’s honest acknowledgment that there are levels of sophistication and depth in the grasping and articulation of our common faith, levels Peter was not always in a position to understand.
Peter Edmonds SJ describes how God’s grace worked differently in the lives of these two saints, neither of whom had straightforward paths to holiness.
Peter and Paul have much in common in that they were both apostles of Christ who sacrificed their lives to the same persecution, but their origins, personalities and achievements remind us that we live with diversity as well as uniformity in the Church of Christ. Paul complained to his Corinthian converts that some were saying, ‘I belong to Paul’ and others ‘I belong to Cephas [Peter]’ (1 Corinthians 1:12). His appeal that we all be united in the same mind and in the same purpose (1 Corinthians 1:10) is surely the appeal that we are to heed on this Solemnity of Peter and Paul.
The Catholic Culture website writes on the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, that these apostles are the solid rock on which the Church is built. They are at the origin of her faith and will forever remain her protectors and her guides. To them, Rome owes her true greatness, for it was under God's providential guidance that they were led to make the capital of the Empire, sanctified by their martyrdom, the center of the Christian world whence should radiate the preaching of the Gospel.
St. Peter suffered martyrdom under Nero, in A.D. 66 or 67. He was buried on the hill of the Vatican where recent excavations have revealed his tomb on the very site of the Basilica of St. Peter's. St. Paul was beheaded in the Via Ostia on the spot where now stands the basilica bearing his name. Down the centuries Christian people in their thousands have gone on pilgrimage to the tombs of these Apostles. In the second and third centuries the Roman Church already stood pre-eminent by reason of her apostolicity, the infallible truth of her teaching and her two great figures, Sts. Peter and Paul.
Don Schwager quotes Basil the Great, 329-379 A.D reflecting on the grace of the munificent God for those who have hoped in him.
"'Turn, O my soul, into your rest: for the Lord has been bountiful to you' (Psalm 114:7). The brave contestant applies to himself the consoling words, very much like to Paul, when he says: 'I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. For the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice.' These things the prophet also says to himself: Since you have fulfilled sufficiently the course of this life, turn then to your rest, 'for the Lord has been bountiful to you.' For, eternal rest lies before those who have struggled through the present life observant of the laws, a rest not given in payment for a debt owed for their works but provided as a grace of the munificent God for those who have hoped in him."
The Word Among Us Meditation on 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18 comments that in Peter and Paul we see heroic virtue. In them we see enmity becoming friendship. And perhaps most important, in them we see how someone’s yes to God can change, not only their own lives, but the entire course of Christianity.
What united them? They said yes to Jesus. In living out that yes, they strove every day to be faithful to God’s call in their lives. And in response to that yes, they experienced God’s faithfulness to them every day. As they poured themselves out for Jesus and his mission, shared the gospel with as many people as possible, and willingly suffered in Christ’s name, they changed and grew. Each day, they became more and more like Jesus, and the more they became like Jesus, the better equipped they were to do his will in the world.
“No profit is in fact legitimate when it falls short of the objective of the integral promotion of the human person, the universal destination of goods, and the preferential option for the poor.” The economy must “aim above all to promote the global quality of life that, before the indiscriminate expansion of profits, leads the way toward the integral well-being of the entire person and of every person.” Markets, the Vatican observes, “are not capable of governing themselves,” and so it is our duty as citizens of Earth and followers of Jesus to hold businesses, banks, and political leaders to higher standards. [3]
Bishop Robert Barron June 29, 2017, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, featured on the the Word on Fire blog, an excerpt from Episode 5 of the "CATHOLICISM" series, titled "The Indispensable Men: Peter, Paul, and the Missionary Adventure." Paul, the theologian, and Peter, the Rock, offer two diverse examples of people who follow the will of God in their ministry within the Body of Christ. References
The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today contrast the trauma of violent separation from homeland with the joy of acting on the Word that we hear from Jesus.
Prepared for the storm
The Second Book of Kings describes the removal of the rulers of Judah to exile by Nebuchadnezzar to exile in Babylon.
* [24:12] The eighth year of his reign: that is, of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, not Jehoiachin’s. The year was 597 B.C.
In the Gospel from Matthew, Jesus exhorts us to be doers of the Word who are prepared by our relationship with God for the storms that assail us in life.
* [7:24–27] The conclusion of the discourse (cf. Lk 6:47–49). Here the relation is not between saying and doing as in Mt 7:15–23 but between hearing and doing, and the words of Jesus are applied to every Christian (everyone who listens).
Tom Lenz has had the pleasure of reading Gaudete et Exsultate (Rejoice and be Glad), an apostolic exhortation by Pope Francis. It is a wonderful piece on the call to holiness in today’s world.
As I read the today’s Gospel, I could not help but think about parrhesÃa. Pope Francis spent a great deal of time reaffirming that God is always with us and that we should not be afraid to spread the good news. … Pope Francis reminds us that we do not need to be afraid to go out into uncharted waters because God will always be there with us. Even when the seas get rough, he is there to calm the water. So, we are implored by the Gospel of Matthew and by Pope Francis to be bold and to speak freely about God. This is parrhesÃa. We need not be afraid because, as Pope Francis says, “the seal of the Holy Spirit testifies to the authenticity of our preaching."
Don Schwager quotes Origen of Alexandria (185-254 AD) on the house that falls if Christ is not the rock and foundation.
"'For neither death nor life nor angels nor other things can separate us from the love of Christ' (Romans 8:38-39). Neither can the flooding of rivers, as in the lands of Egypt and Assyria [symbolize worldly wisdom opposed to God], do harm. Only those are harmed who build on sand, who practice the wisdom of the world. The winds that blow are like the false prophets. All these, coming together in one place, 'beat upon' the house. If it is founded on rock, they do no harm. 'The way of a snake upon a rock' is not to be found (Proverbs 30:19). But in the form of temptations and persecutions, which may mount into a flood, they beat upon even the one who seems to be well-founded. The house falls if it does not have Christ as its basis and foundation. But the truly wise person builds one's house 'upon a rock.' This is the way the Lord builds his church - upon the rock, with steadfastness and strength. This is why 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against it' (Matthew 16:18). All the persecutions that fall upon that house accomplish nothing. The house is founded upon the rock. (excerpt from FRAGMENT 153)
The Word Among Us meditation on Matthew 7:21-29 shares an experience of trusting God during a storm.
“The floods came. I was in the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, when a jetliner crashed into the building. I escaped unharmed, but the attack filled me with fear. Would God really take care of our family? As we grappled with these questions, we found strength in Romans 8:28— the promise that ‘all things work together for good’ has become a refrain for our family.
On the one hand money is properly a token of gratitude and trust, an agent of the meeting of gifts and needs. . . . As such it should make us all richer… Instead, it has brought insecurity, poverty, and the liquidation of our cultural and natural commons.
Some of the storms that we experience are connected to our trust in God and some come from the expectations of society about how the wealth of the world should be distributed. We hear Jesus words and we act on that basis. References
The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today invite us to find hope for a change in direction in society by recalling ancient reforms in Judah and following Jesus warning about false prophets. The passage from the Second Book of Kings recalls that In the reign of King Josiah the Book of the Law was the basis of the return of Judah to adherence to the Covenant.
* [22:8] Book of the law: probably an early edition of material now found in the Book of Deuteronomy
The Gospel from Matthew offers Jesus advice to recognize false prophets by the fruit of their words and deeds.
* [7:15–20] Christian disciples who claimed to speak in the name of God are called prophets (Mt 7:15) in Mt 10:41; Mt 23:34. They were presumably an important group within the church of Matthew. As in the case of the Old Testament prophets, there were both true and false ones, and for Matthew the difference could be recognized by the quality of their deeds, the fruits (Mt 7:16). The mention of fruits leads to the comparison with trees, some producing good fruit, others bad.
Marvin A. Sweeney has written King Josiah of Judah: The Lost Messiah of Israel describing the importance of the religious reform of Josiah.
It argues that early forms of the book of Deuteronomy, the so‐called Deuteronomistic History (Joshua; Judges; 1–2 Samuel; and 1–2 Kings), and much of the prophetic literature (Isaiah; Hosea; Amos; Micah; Jeremiah; Zephaniah; Nahum; cf. Habakkuk) were written or edited to support King Josiah's reform and to present him as the righteous Davidic monarch, who would realize the divine promise of security for the land and people of Israel. Following the tragic death of Josiah at the hands of the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo in 609 b.c.e., Josiah's program of religious reform and national restoration came to an end
Mark Latta comments that in the information overload of our complex world we are subject to all kinds of words of prophecy.
In this world of information overload, where and how can we see the “fruits” of the sources of the massive amount of information (prophesies of a sort) that we absorb. One insight of this discernment is rooted in the principle of love. Are the words, the prophesy, the inputs we receive, rooted in and delivered with the tone and spirit of love? The gift of love and the projection of a loving attitude is truly a fruit born of the Holy Spirit
Don Schwager addresses the question of “What is the test of a true or false teacher”?
Jesus connects soundness with good fruit. Something is sound when it is free from defect, decay, or disease and is healthy. Good fruit is the result of sound living - living according to moral truth and upright character. The prophet Isaiah warned against the dangers of falsehood: Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness (Isaiah 5:20). The fruits of falsehood produce an easy religion which takes the iron out of religion, the cross out of Christianity, and any teaching which eliminates the hard sayings of Jesus, and which push the judgments of God into the background and makes us think lightly of sin.
The Word Among Us Meditation on 2 Kings 22:8-13; 23:1-3 shows how powerful Scripture is! It has the ability to draw hearts to the Lord.
Maybe you already have a routine for reading the Bible. You might have a daily reading plan, or maybe you have worked your way through one of the Gospels. Perhaps this magazine is your main resource for reading Scripture. If you’ve been doing any of these for even a short amount of time, you surely have a few stories about how the word of God has touched you, moved you, and shaped you. See if you can recall one or two of them today.
Business did not anticipate a time when those resources would diminish or run out. It was inconceivable that the vast plains and forests of the New World could be exhausted, or that the abundant new fuels of coal could produce enough waste to foul the air and the seas, or that the use of oil could eventually lead to global climate change. So the system of rewarding the lowest price, impelling companies to exploit the cheapest sources of labor and materials, could not anticipate a time when the lowest price would no longer be the lowest cost, when seeking the cheapest means to get a product to market would end up costing society the most in terms of pollution, loss of habitat, degradation of biological diversity, human sickness, and cultural destruction. . . .
The fruit of following Jesus Way appears as love, forgiveness, inclusion, and compassion for others. The increasing division between those who live consuming an unfair portion of the world’s resources, preaching an economic philosophy of laissez faire capitalism, and those who migrate in poverty is a sign of our attention to the false prophets in our society. References
The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today share experience and wisdom that is found when we are faithful to our choice to live according to the Will of God.
Crossroad decisions for life
The dramatic interplay between Sennacherib, Hezekiah, and Isaiah at the end of the 8th Century BCE is described in the Second Book of Kings.
In approximately 701 BCE, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, attacked the fortified cities of Judah, laying siege on Jerusalem, but failed to capture it (it is the only city mentioned as being besieged on Sennacherib's Stele, of which the capture is not mentioned).
In the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus presents wisdom sayings on Pearls Before Swine, The Answer to Prayers, The Golden Rule, and The Narrow Gate. (The Answer to Prayers is omitted from the lectionary selection today).
* [7:12] See Lk 6:31. This saying, known since the eighteenth century as the “Golden Rule,” is found in both positive and negative form in pagan and Jewish sources, both earlier and later than the gospel. This is the law and the prophets is an addition probably due to the evangelist.
Fred Hanna reflects on the understanding of the Golden Rule that resulted from taking a rescue dog home.
We have a dog now. His name is Remy; he is a rescue dog. My children have wanted a dog for a long time until finally I gave in. And, in short order, he has won my heart and considers me, arguably, his favorite. Remy immediately came to mind with today’s reading, ‘Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.’ His unconditional love when I walk in the door is how he wants to be treated, so I return the love in kind. When I stop and hold him, feed him, take on a walk, etc., he returns to me with love and kindness.
Don Schwager is reminded of Psalm 1 when he reflects on the choices we make to help us move towards the goal of loving God and obeying his will.
The Book of Psalms begins with an image of a person who has chosen to follow the way of those who are wise and obedient to God's word and who refuse to follow the way of those who think and act contrary to God's law : Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night (Psalm 1:1-2). When a path diverges, such as a fork in the road, each way leads to a different destination. This is especially true when we encounter life's crossroads where we must make a choice that will affect how we will live our lives.
The Word Among Us Meditation on Psalm 48:2-4, 10-11 concludes that the world is filled with physical “meditations” about the Lord.
The people of Israel had a physical place designated by God where they could experience his presence. Isn’t this true for us too? We may not have a “holy city” nearby, but we do have reminders of God’s presence: physical objects, places, and even gestures that remind us of the truths of our faith and offer us spiritual comfort. Catholics have a name for this: a sacramental.
Friar Jude Winkler explains the history of two sieges of Jerusalem by the Assyrians. The wisdom sayings in Matthew are in the Jewish tradition of inspiring reflection on truth. Friar Jude explains how the gate to heaven is both narrow and wide. Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that when the economic institution is our primary lens, as it is in the U.S., religion tends to be diluted by pragmatic, win/lose, and power attitudes. God is bought and sold more than loved, waited for, or surrendered to. He quotes Paul Hawken, an American entrepreneur and environmentalist, who shares a similar insight he learned from a farmer in Maine.
The problem with the United States is that it usually hits exactly what it is aiming at. And for decades now, we have aimed for money and possessions. We got it. It was not evenly distributed and is now highly concentrated, posing as great a threat to democracy as any foreign power ever did, but that is what this country made—money. In the process, we completely forgot that success and failure, when measured by currency alone, are impostors, and that our lives, the transience of which often becomes evident all too late, can have little meaning unless we feel in our passing that we were able to serve the nature and humanity [and God] that gave us our breath and soul. [1]
The wisdom sayings from the Sermon on the Mount remind us of the tension between God and wealth declared in Matthew 6.24. The wisdom sayings today are connected to our approach to living in a society threatened by an increasing attachment to the pursuit of wealth. References
The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary urge us to reflect on our stiff necked attitudes and action toward others who appear to be in conflict with us.
Rush to judgment
The passage from Second Kings is a theological reflection on the causes and aftermath of Assyria’s conquest of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
* [17:6–41] This brief section is the Deuteronomistic historian’s theological reflection on the causes and aftermath of Assyria’s conquest of the Northern Kingdom. The text contrasts the Israelites, who were deported (v. 6) because they abandoned the worship of the Lord (vv. 7–23), with the foreigners who were brought into the land (v. 24) and undertook, however imperfectly, to worship the Lord alongside their own traditional deities (vv. 25–34a). The last verses recapitulate the apostasy of the Israelites (vv. 34b–40) and the syncretism of the foreigners (v. 41). This is a deliberately disparaging, and not wholly accurate, account of the origin of the Samaritans; it reflects the hostility the Judahites continued to hold toward the inhabitants of the northern territories.
In the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel of Matthew Jesus looks at our hypocrisy that often comes to the surface when we judge others.
* [7:5] Hypocrite: the designation previously given to the scribes and Pharisees is here given to the Christian disciple who is concerned with the faults of another and ignores his own more serious offenses.
Jeanne Schuler refers to Plato and Socrates as she finds that we take peculiar satisfaction in delving into others’ lives.
Socrates locates the beginning of wisdom with the admonition to “know thyself.” Few in Plato’s dialogues move in this direction. It is humbling to peer into the dusty corners of our lives. We like to hide from ourselves. Some people blame the self. “Self” for them means selfish. “Forget yourself.” The road to virtue supposedly leads away from the self. We might dream of starting over. Find a new location; leave that pesky self behind. But like an old address, it follows me. I can’t shake it off
"Rather, whenever necessity compels one to reprove or rebuke another, we ought to proceed with godly discernment and caution. First of all, let us consider whether the other fault is such as we ourselves have never had or whether it is one that we have overcome. Then, if we have never had such a fault, let us remember that we are human and could have had it. But if we have had it and are rid of it now, let us remember our common frailty, in order that mercy, not hatred, may lead us to the giving of correction and admonition. In this way, whether the admonition occasions the amendment or the worsening of the one for whose sake we are offering it (for the result cannot be foreseen), we ourselves shall be made safe through singleness of eye. But if on reflection we find that we ourselves have the same fault as the one we are about to reprove, let us neither correct nor rebuke that one. Rather, let us bemoan the fault ourselves and induce that person to a similar concern, without asking him to submit to our correction." (excerpt from SERMON ON THE MOUNT 2.19.64)
The Word Among Us Meditation on 2 Kings 17:5-8, 13-15, 18 sums it up noting the author of 2 Kings explains why Israel failed: the people relied on human help instead of divine power.
Hoshea’s story urges us to turn to the Lord first rather than as the last resort. It tells us to face every challenge with the proclamation “My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:2). This is the foundational truth of our human situation, and it is the foundation for our life of faith. We depend on God from beginning to end.
Friar Jude Winkler examines some of the weakness in the “banana republic” nature of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The prophets tried to call back to faithfulness the leaders who practiced syncretism. Reflection on the wisdom of the Gospel may lead us to admit that maybe I am in more serious trouble than those on whom I pass judgement. Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, describes in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) how Jesus critiques and reorders the values of his culture from the bottom up. Fr. Richard quotes Jim Wallis, founder of the faith-based nonprofit Sojourners, who writes about economic justice.
What if the calls for economic justice were made in the name of Jesus—or Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah—instead of from more ideological sources and causes? . . . What if behavior in the economic spheres of our lives became the substance of adult Sunday school curriculums and Bible study groups? And what if the hard political questions about corporate responsibility, tax benefits, trade policies, budget priorities, and campaign financing were coming from religious congregations that political leaders couldn’t afford to ignore? Nothing could do more to bring about a change of fortunes in the battles of class warfare.
We have been stiff necked about examining our attitudes when the bottom line is money and resources as foundational as clean water, housing, and health care go to the highest bidder. This inequality is absolutely counter to the Gospel message. Pray that our introspection leads to asking hard questions in the manner modeled by Jesus. References
The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today are a reminder that God’s story is always bigger than our story. Isaiah Chapter 49 contains the second of the four “servant of the Lord” oracles.
*[49:1–7] The second of the four “servant of the Lord” oracles (cf. note on 42:1–4).
Psalm 139 praises the intimacy of our connection to God as we are wonderfully made. The text from the Acts of the Apostles explains the idea of the Christian church as the logical development of Pharisaic Judaism.
* [13:16–41] This is the first of several speeches of Paul to Jews proclaiming that the Christian church is the logical development of Pharisaic Judaism (see also Acts 24:10–21; 26:2–23).
In the Gospel of Luke, John the Baptist is incorporated into the people of Israel by the sign of the covenant.
* [1:57–66] The birth and circumcision of John above all emphasize John’s incorporation into the people of Israel by the sign of the covenant (Gn 17:1–12). The narrative of John’s circumcision also prepares the way for the subsequent description of the circumcision of Jesus in Lk 2:21. At the beginning of his two-volume work Luke shows those who play crucial roles in the inauguration of Christianity to be wholly a part of the people of Israel. At the end of the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 21:20; 22:3; 23:6–9; 24:14–16; 26:2–8, 22–23) he will argue that Christianity is the direct descendant of Pharisaic Judaism.
Amy Oden, Professor of Early Church History and Spirituality, connects the suffering servant of Isaiah to Divine eschatology.
Restoration of individuals, or churches, or even of an entire people, is never only about that. God’s healing work moves outward, always expanding toward eschatological fulfillment, “that my salvation may reach the end of the earth” (verse 6). God’s story is always bigger than ours, holding our stories within God’s life and weaving them into the wide-open future.
Dennis Hamm, S.J. notes these remarkable Scripture passages can help us all marvel at how each of us can recognize the graceful interplay of God’s loving initiatives and the opportunities for free response that make up our own emerging stories of vocation.
This feast celebrates a life that starts small but eventually, by way of God’s loving initiatives and the free response of persons, emerges as one of the key figures in sacred history. So, to celebrate this special life, the church has drawn on a key Servant song from the scroll of Isaiah, then the great Psalm about being nurtured in the womb, then a summary of the good news of God’s mercy from Peter in Acts, and finally the celebration of John’s birth in Luke’s gospel. Taken together, this collection can be a powerful meditation on the mystery of vocation
Friar Jude Winkler emphasizes the mission described in Isaiah 49 as intended to reach to the ends of the earth. The sandal strap mentioned in the Gospel is in the context of the Levirate marriage where Jesus, not John, has the rights to marry the widow, the people of Israel, and this will be a fruitful marriage. The initial disbelief of Zechariah, marked by his inability to speak, becomes his proclamation of the name containing the mission of his son, John. Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares that God hears the cry of the poor. We, created in God’s image and likeness, must do the same to be like God.
The world tends to define poverty and riches simply in terms of economics. But poverty has many faces—weakness, dependence, and many forms of humiliation. Essentially, poverty is a lack of means to accomplish what one desires or needs, be it lack of money, relationships, influence, power, intellectual ability, physical strength, freedom, or dignity.
The vocation we live as part of God’s story is guided by the Spirit to be part of a mission to those who will see the love and mercy of God in our action. References
