Ordinary Time

Jan 29 2025

Scripture Study for

The book of Jonah is an unusual story of conversion. Nineveh was Israel’s mortal enemy. It was also a symbol for wickedness in the ancient world. Yet when Jonah preached repentance to it, the people heeded the message of the prophet, believed in God, and proclaimed a fast. Jonah was not happy that his enemy repented, but this story demonstrates the universality of divine compassion. It shows that God is willing to forgive even a nation that had been brutal toward Israel, the chosen people. All the people of Nineveh, great and small, put on the garments of penance.

Paul teaches about the endtime. Unlike the regular measure or unfolding of time (chronos), this is a different notion of time, kairos, a time of greatest sig nificance for God’s divine plan. It refers to decisive moments, those that are ordained by God, those that mark the inbreaking of God’s action. It is considered the time of fulfillment, of divine revelation. It denotes critical moments in the life of Jesus, his inauguration of the reign of God, his passion and death, his return at the endtime. Paul insists that the kairos is fast approaching and so the Christians must live in the present age as though it had already come.

Jesus inaugurates his ministry with this bold declaration: The kingdom of God is at hand. This is an extraordinary time (kairos), the time of fulfillment of all expectations. After the initial announcement, Jesus calls for repentance. Just like the prophets of old, he calls for a change of heart, a return to God. This announcement is followed by an account of the call of the fishermen Simon, Andrew, James, and John. The abruptness with which these men leave their familiar lives and all of the relationships and obligations associated with them is a final indication of the radical nature of life in the kingdom of God. This is truly a new way of living in the world.

Jan 29 2025

Listening for God

The story of the future prophet Samuel begins by telling us that the voice of the Lord was rarely heard and visions were uncommon. God seemed to have broken off communication, given Israel’s spotty record of keeping the Lord’s com mandments. Or perhaps no one was giving attention to God’s voice? One night when Eli the priest and young Samuel were sleeping in the temple, God called Samuel by name. Three times God called, and each time Samuel went in to where Eli was sleeping to see what he wanted. Finally, Eli realized it was the Lord and told Samuel what to say.

When Jesus came to the Jordan to be baptized, John the Baptist pointed him out to those who would be his first disciples. They “heard what he said and fol lowed Jesus.” One of them, Andrew, then went and got his brother Peter. Peter listened and followed his brother to meet Jesus.

Sometimes God speaks in the silence of the night, sometimes in the bustle of everyday life. I loved the TV series Joan of Arcadia, in which God would show up in various guises—a street performer, an eccentric elderly lady, a child. Scripture reminds us to keep on our toes, lest God walk on by. Even a first recognition of Jesus did not totally reveal all that he was. The disciples called him Rabbi and Messiah, but only John the Baptist knew him for the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world.

Consider/Discuss

In a popular hymn we sing that we have heard God calling in the night. Have you heard God calling lately—night or day?
Has your response to God’s call been more like Samuel’s or Andrew’s, needing some assistance, or immediate?

Responding to the Word

God who has spoken in times past, help us individually and as a community to listen for your voice in our day. Send us mentors and friends who will help us to know it is your voice, and give us the courage to respond to your call. Amen.

Jan 29 2025

Scripture Study for

The vivid and dynamic account of the call of Samuel is both a call narrative and a theophany or manifestation of God. There is a clear difference between Samuel’s relationship with God before this experience and his relationship after it. Though pious, the young Samuel did not know God well; he had received no revelation. His encounter was transformative; a bond was forged between him and God. His responsiveness opened him further, enabling him to receive the word of God and, presumably, to speak it to others. Samuel’s influence is attributed to God’s direction in his life. It was God who made Samuel’s words effective. Paul furnishes the Corinthian community with instruction on the sanctity of the human body. Since it is through our bodies that union with Christ is possible, this same body is to be revered. God highly values the human body, as evident in the bodily resurrection first of Christ and then of others. Paul goes on to assert that our bodies are temples of the Spirit, the same Spirit with whom we are one through our union with Christ. Paul’s final admonition is brief but quite revealing. He calls upon the Corinthians to glorify God in their bodies, which are the means by which we touch the mysteries of God.

There are times when intermediaries play important roles in the lives of others. The Gospel reading describes two such instances of this. John directs two of his own disciples to Jesus. He identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God, a title that may be based on an interpretation of the description of the Suffering Servant found in the prophet Isaiah (cf. Isaiah 53:7). Later in the story, Andrew recognizes something in Jesus and becomes convinced that he is the long-awaited one. Andrew then brings his brother Peter to Jesus. In both instances, the faith of an associate begins another’s own journey to discipleship.

Jan 29 2025

God of the Little

Last April, I was growing tomatoes from seed. Some of the Chef’s Orange seedlings were only three inches high while others were overtopping them at six inches. I said to them, “Come on, you can grow! Just because you are littler, doesn’t mean that you can’t bear fruit.” Now in November, as I pull out the eight-foot plants that are done producing for the season, I cannot tell which were the little ones. They all produced sweet and juicy orange tomatoes. They blessed my table. Now they are done for the year. I am pleased with them.

Widows were those “little ones” in Israel. They were at the bottom of the social ladder, for a woman’s value was derived from her husband. A widow had no husband and thus no worth. They were the little tomatoes in the garden.

The widow in the book of Kings is ready to die in the great drought. Yet Elijah assures her that even in her littleness, God will provide for her. Her jars of flour and oil never run out. She has food for a year! The psalmist says, “The Lord gives food to the hungry.”

Jesus is not impressed by the overtopping “bigness” of the scribes and the Pharisees. They have seats of honor. They are applauded for their spirituality. They pray long prayers to impress an audience. He’s just as unmoved by the rich, who put large sums of money—

from their excess—into the treasury. They will shrivel on the vine. It is the widow whom Jesus celebrates in her littleness. She has given all that she has. She may not make the news. She may not make the history books. When harvest time comes and all of them are done, it won’t matter how small she was. She has borne sweet and succulent fruit. God is pleased with her.

Consider/Discuss

Littleness and abundance—what makes it so hard to be willing to be small? What impresses us? What drives us to want to look important?
The widow’s mite—what is that in our lives? What do we have to give that seems little, but is everything?

Living and Praying with the Word

Jesus, when we are done with life, we would like for you to be pleased with us. As we move toward the end of the church year, you focus our minds on the harvest time. You ask us to look at the fruitfulness of our lives. We know that the end is coming. Forgive us those little things that we have ignored, or we let go of, or we did not feel were important. Today, this day, fill our jars with the grace of your presence so that even our small generosities never run out.

Jan 29 2025

Scripture Study for

At God’s order, the prophet Elijah has called down a drought, and now is sent to a widow in Zarephath whom God has commanded to feed the prophet (1 Kings 17:1–9). Clearly the widow is not aware of this command, and when asked for some bread, she responds that she has none, and in any case, she expects to die soon for lack of food. But Elijah’s assurance that she will have enough flour and oil to feed him, as well has herself and her son, until the drought ends is a sign of God’s care for those who depend on the Lord in times of trouble.

The author of Hebrews has been explaining how Jesus Christ is the perfect and eternal High Priest. Christ’s priesthood is superior to the former priesthood on several counts. Whereas that older priesthood was conducted in tabernacles and temples made by human hands, Christ’s priesthood is exercised in the original, heavenly sanctuary in the unmediated presence of God. Whereas previous priests offered the blood of animals, Christ offered his own blood, and because of this he only had to do it one time. Whereas the earlier priests could only offer sacrifice to atone for sin, Christ not only takes away sin by his sacrifice, but is able “to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him,” something no previous priest could do.

The Old Testament is full of admonitions to treat widows fairly and not take advantage of their economic vulnerability. Jesus’ reference to the scribes “devouring” the houses of widows, while reminiscent of prophetic denunciations of the rich and powerful, is difficult to understand. Some have suggested that scribes may have acted as guardians for widows without male relatives, but the reference to prayers suggests a religious context, and it may be that they were implicated in the same accusation Jesus makes earlier in the Gospel about qorban (animal sacrifice, 7:8–13). In any case, Jesus’ next remarks about the widow’s contribution serve to highlight the contrast between the rapaciousness of the scribes (and others who are privileged) with the generosity of the poor widow.