Ordinary Time

Jan 28 2025

God, Protector of Little Ones

It was 5:30 a.m. I went out the back door for a walk. My mind had things to think about. Some people have streetlights and sidewalks. I have woods. It was dark—really dark. I’d walked that path a thousand times. But it was so black. Suddenly, a loud primal “Whaaaaa!” sounded a few feet from me. I looked into the dark. What was that? I could see nothing. I turned and shakily walked back to the house.

Have you ever heard a deer hiss? When you come between a mother deer and her fawn in the night, that gentle mama becomes a raging protector. The noise she makes is terrifying.

Have you ever heard Jesus hiss? In today’s reading, we may dismiss what Jesus has to say as hyperbole, an overstatement for the sake of making his point. But gentle Jesus can also become a raging protector when his little ones are threatened. Don’t you dare lead one of these little ones astray! “It would be better for you if a great millstone were put around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.” Whoa.

Young people have shared stories with me: a ninth grader date raped by a senior football player; a sixteen-year-old abused in his youth group; a child molested by a trusted family friend. Rage rises within me. I want to hiss “Whaaaaa!” like that deer. That mistreatment affects them for years. They don’t get over it. How dare someone treat these little ones that way?

Gentle Jesus isn’t exaggerating. He means it. To his disciples and to us, he gives a loud primal “Whaaaaa!” Unquenchable fire! Thrown into Gehenna! Where the worm does not die! Don’t you dare cause one of these little ones to stumble. Cut off your hand. Pluck your eye out. Whatever you have to do, do it. Do not hurt my little ones!

Consider/Discuss

A father feels a surge of protectiveness for his pink and wrinkled newborn. The mother of a toddler flies into a rage when she thinks another child will hurt her daughter. A teacher keeps her students close when they are on a field trip. A mother bear will attack a hiker who gets close to her cubs. If these are our God-given instincts to protect the helpless, does the Creator also feel a protective rage over the mistreatments? Do we dare mess with God’s righteous indignation? Might a “hiss” from Jesus make us more careful about how we behave?
That surge of protectiveness—have you felt it rise within you? Sometimes it is a healthy and necessary thing. Sometimes it can hinder or damage relationships. How do we discern the difference?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord, only you are righteous and good. Thank you for the protective instincts that spur us to keep those we love safe. You ask us to watch over your children, for they are precious to you. But at the same time, you detect failings that we hide or cannot see. Do not let our instincts of protectiveness go wrong, keeping outsiders out, becoming tribal, keeping others from partaking of your bounty. You detest any evil in us. Root out our unknown faults. Chop off all that is not of you so that we follow you more purely.

Jan 28 2025

Scripture Study for

As Israel wanders in the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land, they become increasingly discontented, and complain so much that Moses cries out to God to end his life (Numbers 11:14). God responds by endowing seventy elders with the same spirit enjoyed by Moses, so “that they may share the burden of the people with you.” The elders begin to prophesy around the tent of meeting, that is, in the designated area where God speaks to Moses. Joshua’s concern about Eldad and Medad appears to be related to the fact that they are prophesying in the camp, outside this designated zone. Moses, on the other hand, is not concerned about where prophesying happens; he is just glad that it does.

James continues to develop his teaching regarding the Christian’s relationship to wealth. He has already admonished against privileging the wealthy over the poor (2:1–4) and following the grasping, covetous wisdom of the world (3:13–4:3). Now he turns toward the rich themselves with classical warnings: their wealth is transient and may not last through their lives. When they die, they will discover the true wealth they possess. James assumes here that the wealthy have gained their riches through injustice, either by mistreating workers or by subverting justice to their advantage. In either case, in their wealth they have become complacent, just like satisfied cows, oblivious to the fact that they are fattening themselves up for slaughter.

The Gospel reading addresses the themes of tolerance and intolerance. In the first part, Jesus admonishes his followers to be less concerned about who “follows us” and more concerned about what they are doing. In doing good “in [Jesus’] name,” or for the sake of Christ, those who may not be part of the recognized followers are nevertheless doing something that pleases God. Sin, on the other hand, does not please God and cannot be tolerated. Those who muddle along in life without ever striving to eradicate whatever separates them from God will find themselves unable to enter into the reign of God. God loves the good, no matter who does it, but evil cannot be tolerated, for it opposes the very good that God loves.

Jan 28 2025

God, Give Me Strength!

He stares at the ground. A spider creeps toward his sandal and then scurries away. This morning in the dark, his chest is heavy. There is so much more that he wants for them, but they don’t get it. The bickering, the hard-heartedness, the self-absorption—it weighs him down.

Images flow across his mind: his disciples striving, competing, “Who is the greatest?” Wanting his favor. Wanting to look good. Wanting to be the best. His brain is tired. They just don’t understand. His spirit is low. What more can he do? It feels as though all of human history has been burdened by this kind of hardness of heart, this continual “no” to an orientation toward goodness. He sees that this mission to bring abundance and light—it is not going to end well. He told his friends that yesterday for the first time. They were not listening. Is this world worth pouring out his life for? Is it worth the cost?

A smell of bread floats through the air. Someone is up before the dawn. Someone has the courage to start this day anew, no matter what yesterday brought. The aroma brings him back to childhood: the bread his mother baked, the joy on Joseph’s face as they broke the warm loaves together at the family table.

He remembers yesterday’s touch of the little boy’s fingers on his forearm. The child had smiled at him while the adults were arguing. The Father must still trust in the human race: God keeps creating children, starting anew, believing once again. The memory of the child’s innocence gives him courage. He can give his life for this child. He will give his life for this child.

The Bread of Life raises his chin from his hand and stands. It is a new day, to be lived for God alone.

Consider/Discuss

Discouraged. Disheartened. Bent low. Do you ever have mornings like that? Or days like that? What little things or memories does God give you that get you moving, pick you up, give you courage, and keep you going?
One of the great slave spiritual hymns has the refrain, “I ain’t gonna grieve my Lord no more.” What kind of sadness does God feel when seeing our human hard-heartedness? What is one thing that I can do differently today to help create a world that doesn’t “grieve the Lord no more”?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord, I know that you gave me feet. But they aren’t moving this morning. I know that you gave me a brain. But it’s not awake yet. I know that you gave me a heart. I can feel it beating. There are days like this one when it feels as though nothing is happening within me. I don’t even feel that I can pray. But I know that you love me today, too. Maybe you had days like that as well? Whatever I’ve got, I hand it to you. It’s not much, but it’s me. Here, Lord, here it is.

Jan 28 2025

Scripture Study for

In a passage that would be at home in the prophetic literature, the book of Wisdom speaks of a “just one,” who knows the ways of God and strives to live according to them. This is in contrast to the wicked, who reject any notion of the hereafter and are heedless of divine justice and oppress the poor and the pious (Wisdom 2:1–11). The just one’s reproaches in this regard provoke violent plans. If God really does look out for the just, then God will surely defend them from attack. Thus the wicked seek to prove that the pious man who “boasts that God is his Father” (2:16) is deluded. Neither his piety nor God will protect him from condemnation.

James continues to develop the notion of being “doers of the word” by focusing on internal matters within the Christian community and the cultivation of wisdom. The wise are humble, not given to jealousy or self-advancement, and thus true wisdom (as opposed to earthly/unspiritual/demonic wisdom) promotes peace. James has already admonished his audience to control their tongues (3:1–12); now he exhorts them to control those impulses that lead to provoking others and seeking one’s advantage. Worldly wisdom promotes covetousness and greed, leading to grasping for what one does not have. Those who are doers of the word, who have true faith, ask God for what they want rather than try to grab it from others.

On the way to Capernaum, Jesus continues to teach his disciples that he will be abused and killed but will indeed rise. Given Peter’s halted attempt to reason with Jesus earlier, they are understandably confused: this is not what anyone expects of the Messiah. The disciples also fail to discern the larger meaning, which is that divine power is not made manifest in the same way that human power typically is. Jesus’ followers must learn to adjust themselves to act in accordance with God’s ways, not those of the world. Children, who are essentially powerless and who have not yet reached the age when they are grasping for it, are exemplars of the mentality Jesus seeks to inculcate in his disciples.

Jan 28 2025

The Road Ahead

Every time that the rain is beating down hard, I am reminded of a family camping trip. We had pitched our tent in the clouds of Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina, the highest point in the eastern U.S. After four days of soggy living, a thunderstorm was predicted. We all agreed, “Enough! Let’s go get a hotel!” As we drove down the mountain, the rain poured. Fog thickened. The sky blackened. The windshield wipers swished as fast as they could go. It didn’t matter. We couldn’t see in the dark. We couldn’t pull over, for there were only guard rails and cliffs. It was scary. We could not see where we were going.

In today’s Gospel, Peter is high on a mountaintop when he declares, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Then Jesus tells them that he is going to Jerusalem to suffer and be killed. It was like a deep fog descended: Peter could not see the road ahead. In fear and uncertainty, he shouted out, “Noooo!!!! That will never happen to you!” Peter loved Jesus. He cried out “no!” to that prediction of grief and disruption. His windshield wipers didn’t work—he had no idea where the road was. The uncertainty of it blinded him with fear.

You and I, we can also be happily driving down the mountaintops of life when suddenly, out of the blue, a fog descends: a shutdown of the world in a pandemic; an internal “Whoa!” to a diagnosis of cancer; a sudden self-doubt that makes us unable to function . . . and the windshield wipers won’t work. And we have no idea where the road is or what lies ahead.

What are we to do about the uncertainty? Jesus calls us to a deeper response. He whispers, “Move over. Let go. Let me drive.”

Consider/Discuss

Peter found out that his very human answer, his outburst of fear and uncertainty, was not Jesus’ answer. What did Jesus do with Peter’s protectiveness? Jesus did not leave him to his own understanding. He said, “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” How does Jesus want to transform our human understanding as well?
Our tendency is to clutch the steering wheel when the fog gets thick; we cling tighter when we cannot see the road; we tense up when the windshield wipers won’t work. How does Jesus stretch us to let go when he says: “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it”?

Living and Praying with the Word

Jesus, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God! As we exult in you, we feel sunshine filling our souls. Then the fog descends, and anxiety and fear threaten to overwhelm us. You have asked us to share your cross. That can feel a little scary. We don’t want more pain. And sometimes the windshield wipers won’t work, and we cannot see where we are going. Yes, we will get up and carry our cross and help you change the world in just a moment, but for now, Jesus, just be here and hold us.