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Institute for Homiletics

A Collaboration of The Catholic Foundation and the University of Dallas

Ordinary Time

Scripture Study for

The stories of Elisha are filled with examples of God saving people  in distress. Through the young prophet God purifies water for one  city; fills all the empty vessels of a poor widow with oil, saving her  from creditors; cures a stew that has been poisoned; heals a foreigner  of leprosy. Gratitude to the prophet was thus really gratitude to God.  In the reading we see also the prophet’s gratitude, expressed through  the promise of a child for an elderly couple. The woman does indeed  have a son (who will fall ill, die, and be raised by the prophet), once  again showing that the God of Israel is a God a life. 

Paul has been arguing that the death of Christ brought an end  to the reign of sin and death. How does this work? When one is in  bondage to someone, Paul says, that bondage naturally ends when  we die (6:7). In the same way, if we die with Christ in baptism we  are freed from bondage to sin. We are also raised with him and are  freed from the power of sin and death. Paul’s larger point here is  ethical: because Christians have died to sin, and are no longer under  its power, they must stop acting as if they were. They must start  living for God, not continuing to serve sin. 

Jesus warns his disciples that the gospel will not be received in all  quarters and that he will prove, both during and after his earthly life,  to be a cause of division. His followers should know that being his  disciple will be the hardest thing they have ever had to do, requiring  more of them than they imagine: losing family, even their lives.  They will have to “take up their crosses,” the instrument of their  deaths. Yet this death will lead to life—a promise only those who  have faith in Jesus can believe. Even those who receive the one who  proclaims the gospel will gain their reward. Both those who sacrifice  for Jesus and those who receive them are assured that their efforts  will redound to them in the end.

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Ordinary Time, Extraordinary Courage

The prophet Jeremiah captures my imagination. He is called to  speak the word of the Lord at a tender age: “I am too young,” he  objects. Repeatedly he resists his call to preach: “I try to hold it in,  but it burns like fire in my heart, imprisoned in my bones.” He is  brutally honest before God. He is also starkly straightforward with  kings. His forthrightness gets him into trouble: he’s thrown into  the muck of a cistern, imprisoned in the stocks, mocked and made  fun of, and ultimately hauled off to Egypt to end his life where he  doesn’t want to be.

Do you ever wonder if Jeremiah wished that he could simply be  an ordinary guy? God’s call was sometimes just too challenging.  “You duped me, Lord,” he says, “and I let myself be duped.” He  may have prayed today’s psalm: “Rescue me from the mire, and do  not let me sink . . . for it is on your account that I bear insult.”  Though he is smacked down over and over, Jeremiah keeps popping  back up again.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus warns the disciples of that same kind  of opposition. He knows that the muck is real. But he says time  after time, “Do not be afraid . . . Even the hairs of your head are  counted.” What are we to be afraid of? Not physical death, but  spiritual cowardice.

Fortitude is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There may be  times when life calls for swashbuckling bravado. But more often, the  Divine Nudge encourages us to roll out of bed with an “it doesn’t  matter how you feel today, just get up and keep going” kind of  everyday courage. Sainthood is in the small things. Heroic virtue  grows through giving God one obedient yes at a time.

Consider/Discuss 

  • Fear is part of life. We get burned and we grow cautious. Yet Jesus says  repeatedly, “Do not be afraid.” In what part of our lives do we need Holy  Spirit fortitude so that we can keep rising back up to do what we are called  to do, in spite of our fear or weakness?
  • The saints and prophets were brutally honest in their relationship with  God. Are you willing to yell at God, to pour out your heart in prayer and  be forthright with the Creator of the universe? Why or why not? What does  that look like?

Living and Praying with the Word 

Lord, sometimes I’d rather stay in bed and take life easy. Yet  Jeremiah and the saints and you yourself show me another way—to  keep giving and loving and preaching even when it is personally  challenging. Guide my discernment in the balance between self-care  and self-gift. I seek you. I offer myself to you. Help me to trust you  to use me according to your best lights, for you watch over even the  hairs of my head. Cast out my fear and keep me close to you.

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Scripture Study for

Just prior to this week’s reading, Jeremiah has complained to God  that God has “seduced” him—drawn him into a difficult mission  of proclaiming God’s word of judgment to a faithless and violent  people. In the face of rejection, the prophet has tried to walk away  from his calling, but like a fire burning in his heart, the word of  God demands to be heard (20:7–9). Yet despite danger and even the  treachery of friends, Jeremiah ultimately trusts that God will defend  him “like a mighty champion” because he is doing God’s work. In  Jeremiah we see both the depths of suffering in relationship with  God and the heights of trust and hope despite it all. 

Paul explains to the Romans how the death of Christ has saved  humanity from death and sin. Paul understands sin here not as a  human act of the breaking of covenant commands (“law”), but as  a malevolent, intractable power that entered the world through  human disobedience. This power, which spread through all Adam’s  descendants, brought with it death. Thus all people, even those who  were not under the covenant obligations to God, sinned, even if they  were not breaking “the law” (Torah). Thus death “reigned” over all.  The obedience of Christ ends this reign by flooding humanity with  grace, a gift from God to deliver the descendants of Adam from the  bondage of sin and its “wages” of death (6:23). 

As Jesus sends the Twelve out to proclaim the kingdom, he warns  them of opposition. This warning shades into predictions of what  the early church will face after Easter. Out of fear for their lives  and livelihoods, they will be tempted to withdraw from the task of  proclaiming the gospel, or even to deny Christ. Yet this is what they  are being formed to do: to proclaim publicly what they are learning  from and about Jesus. In the face of fear, they must remember not  only that God cares for them, but also that even physical death is to  be preferred to the spiritual death that would follow from apostasy  or abandoning the call to proclaim the gospel.

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Tastes of Beauty in the Body of Christ

She was young. But she remembers that dry day like it was  yesterday. “This is ridiculous. How can he give us his flesh to eat?”  She listens to the shouting. She sits outside the synagogue. As a  woman, she’s not permitted to enter. But she can hear them clearly.  This is Jesus of Nazareth they are yelling at; Jesus, whose love has  transformed her; Jesus, whose words burn like a fire inside of her.  Can they not see what he is offering? “Bread of Life—who does he  think he is? We know his father from Nazareth. He’s a carpenter’s  son.” The door opens and the leaders stomp their feet into the dust  of the dry ground and walk away. 

She wants to shout after them in the distance, “You never really  heard him,” but again she hears voices at the doorway, not so loud,  but irritated: “This saying is hard; who can accept it? The Bread  of Life! How can he say he is the Bread of Life?” Those who had  walked closely with him began to walk away also. She knew these  ones. She had eaten with them. They were his own. “We will no  longer go with him . . . I am going home.” She is grief-stricken. She  shouts, “How can you leave him? His words are Spirit and life!”  “Ah, woman, you are young. Go home also.” 

 The door opens a third time and he comes out, full of sorrow.  “Will you also leave me?” Peter says the words she will remember all  her life. She has told them to her children and her children’s children.  Now as her community is struggling with betrayal and desertion, she  shares what Peter said: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the  words of eternal life.” 

Rain began to fall on the dry soil, watering the earth. 

Consider/Discuss 

  • Is this teaching of Jesus too hard? Doubt tastes like dust in the mouth.  Faith refreshes like the rain. As many walk away, how can we express what  Jesus in the Eucharist means to us? How can we describe the taste of glory  that comes as we open our hands to receive him? 
  • We believe that the Eucharist is the sacrament of unity in the Church.  Yet like this unnamed young woman of the first century, some sit at the  peripheries, some voices are not heard, some are rendered invisible. How  can we be more conscientious in our sharing, our koinonia, in bringing in  those at the edges, to solidify the Body of Christ?

Living and Praying with the Word 

Lord, you are the Bread of Life. We have tasted your manna. We  have been touched by your presence. You unite us so that together  we can abide in you. At the same time, we grieve for those who walk  away. We love them. How can they go? Even the angels weep. 

Holy Spirit, bubble up within us so that we bring your life to the  world in which we live.

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Scripture Study for

Israel has finally arrived on the threshold of the Promised Land.  Through the years, they struggled to trust that the God who delivered  them from bondage can take care of them and provide for all their  needs. This has been, and will continue to be, an important challenge,  since distrust leads to the worship of other gods. Moses thus reminds  the people of all God has done for them, providing them with food  and water, and not just any food, but manna, a special food created  by God for them. Through the trials, God has been teaching them  that they can and must rely on God, who provides all they need for  the journey. 

Paul’s rhetorical questions regarding the blood and body of Christ  occur within the context of an admonition to the Corinthians to  avoid buying meat known to have been offered to pagan gods.  Eating meat from such sacrifices, even if one does not believe that  the gods are real, constitutes a “participation” with them. Just as  ancient Israel could have no relationship with any gods but the God  of the covenant, so Christians may not “participate” with anyone  but Christ. They do this in the sharing of the cup of blessing and the  breaking of the bread. This common participation creates a single  body, whose members are responsible for each other and therefore  should show proper concern for each other. 

Jesus’ claim to be “the living bread that came down from heaven”  occurs within a scene that begins with a question about believing  that Jesus has been sent by God. The crowd has asked for a sign  (“What can you do?” [6:30]), like the sign of the manna given in the  desert. Jesus responds that he himself is the true bread from heaven.  Just as the manna nourished the people, Jesus says, so he, who is  the true bread from heaven, will nourish those who can accept it.  When they eat Jesus’ flesh they will be receiving him, establishing or  strengthening a mutual indwelling. Through this mutual “abiding”  Jesus shares his own eternal life with the recipient.

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