Ordinary Time

Jan 06 2025

Praying for Justice

Possibly this parable about the widow and the unjust judge was based on a real incident. Since Luke presents Jesus as having loyal women friends who traveled with him, this story might have come from one of them. It has a nice touch of humor when the judge admits he finally gave her justice out of fear she would bop him on the head.

Earlier in this Gospel, Jesus told another parable about being persistent in prayer (11:5–8), but here persistence is connected with a particular end: to persist in praying for justice. If a powerless widow’s persistence moves even an unjust judge to justice, how much more will the Father of Justice listen to the prayers of his children? Jesus’ words were held up to Luke’s community who lived in a hostile environment, encouraging them not to lose faith that God keeps all promises. Their fulfillment had already begun in Jesus’ resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Presumably, our first reading was chosen to present a weary Moses as one persisting in prayer with the help of Aaron and Hur. That this prayer results in Joshua’s successfully “mowing down” the Amalekites may not particularly inspire. More helpful is Paul’s advice to turn to scripture “for training in righteousness (justice),” especially keeping the psalms in mind. Today’s responsorial psalm reminds us that “our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” So persist in praying for justice; let not your hearts grow weary.

Consider/Discuss

What areas of injustice do you see in our world?
Do you pray that God’s justice—understood as the grace to be in right relationship with God, others, oneself, and our world—come more fully into our lives and our world?

Responding to the Word

O God of justice, we ask that you send the Spirit to give us a greater dedication to bringing your justice into the world. Let our hearts not grow weary asking for this gift of the Holy Spirit. Strengthen our faith in the power of your grace to transform our lives.

Jan 06 2025

Scripture Study for

Many people have been troubled by the thought that God actually directed aggressive military behavior. However, since the Israelites believed that they were God’s special people, they also looked upon their enemies as God’s enemies. In fighting their own battles they would be fighting God’s battles. The support that Moses gets from Aaron and Hur is probably symbolic. Though Joshua and his selected companions ultimately put the Amalekites to the sword, it was really the prayer of Moses that wins the battle. However, Joshua’s involvement in this victory established him as a trustworthy leader for the future.

Paul expounds on the excellence of the sacred scriptures (holy writings) and their usefulness in the lives of Christians. Timothy is reminded of those teachers from whom he learned the message of the scriptures, namely his mother, Eunice; his grandmother Lois; and more recently, Paul himself. Loyalty to his teachers is one reason for Timothy’s own faithfulness to the teaching of the scriptures. Paul believed that all scripture was inspired by God and that it played a very important role in the lives of believers. Having expounded on the glories of the sacred scriptures, he solemnly charges Timothy to remain faithful to his ministerial responsibilities.

Jesus draws a very sharp contrast between a judge and a widow who comes to that judge for justice. The judge is described as fearing neither God nor human beings. By his own admission, he is devoid of such devotion. On the other hand, the woman is a widow, a member of one of the most oppressed classes in Israelite society. Though vulnerable, she is bold, a real match for the judge. He will not give in; she will not give up. The persistence of the woman becomes the model Jesus uses to describe the resoluteness required of God’s chosen ones. Like the woman, they do not know when God will respond to their pleas, and so they must persist.

Jan 06 2025

Surprising Messengers

First, go to your Bible and read the entire fifth chapter in Second Kings for this most enjoyable story of the prophet and the Gentile general with leprosy, highlighting the power of God’s word to heal. With today’s familiar Gospel story of Jesus and the ten lepers, the focus is on God’s salvation coming to “outsiders” like Naaman and the Samaritan as both healing and conversion. We see God’s compassionate outreach for those whose leprosy placed them outside the community, for leprosy was a social stigma as well as a physical condition. What I love in the story of Naaman is the role of the servants, the “little ones.” A servant girl captured in a raid first tells Naaman’s wife about “the prophet in Samaria.” After Naaman arrives at Elisha’s door, a servant brings the prophet’s message to wash seven times in the Jordan. And finally, it is the general’s own servants who convince him to follow this command when he gets all huffy about washing in the Jordan instead of the beautiful rivers back home. But down he goes and cured he is.

Leprosy is a stand-in for the condition of sin that alienates us from God and each other. God’s greatest desire is that we know divine, saving grace, a desire often brought home to us by the surprising messengers God sends us—including the prophet from Nazareth who continues to surprise us after two thousand years. So be on the lookout for how God is working to draw you closer and deepen your faith.

Consider/Discuss

How has God’s word brought healing into your life? How has it deepened your ongoing conversion?
Can you think of any surprising messengers God has used to “get through” to you?

Responding to the Word

Open our ears, Lord, to hear your word. Open our eyes to see the many ways you reach out to us through those you bring into our lives who help us to know you. Help us to see that all people are your beloved children, and that all earth is holy and bears your presence.

Jan 06 2025

Scripture Study for

The story about Naaman focuses on healing, gratitude, conversion, and worship. His cure was clearly miraculous; all he had to do was submit himself to the ritual that Elisha prescribed. This cure champions monotheism and universalism. Naaman may have needed a miracle to recognize the universal power of the God of Israel, but recognize it he did! Something else makes this story exceptional. Though there were many people suffering from leprosy in Israel, God chose to heal a foreigner. This divine act demonstrates God’s love and concern for all, Israelite and non-Israelite alike.

Paul writes from prison, making his appeal to Timothy even more poignant. He exhorts his disciple to remember what is at the heart of the gospel that Paul has preached. The kind of remembering of which he speaks is a way of witnessing to the authenticity of what is remembered. In this case, it points to a twofold truth: Jesus Christ is raised from the dead and he is a descendant of David. The agony and indignity that Paul bears in his imprisonment are seen by him as a share in the “birth pangs of the messiah,” that necessary suffering that will precede the birth of the reign of God.

The Gospel narrative echoes the story recounted in the first reading. It is the story of a foreigner who suffered the pain and indignities of leprosy, was cured by the power of God, and returned to give thanks. He, along with his companions, had recognized Jesus earlier and had hoped for a cure. They all believed that Jesus had the power to heal them and they all went off to show themselves to the priests. What made this man unique was his gratitude. Furthermore, it was a Samaritan, one who was despised by the Jews, who showed gratitude to the Jewish wonder-worker. Jesus made this point quite clearly. Once again the last (a Samaritan) will be first (held up as an example).

Jan 06 2025

Ask, Then Act

The prophet Habakkuk asks God how long he (the prophet) will have to see violence, ruin, and misery. God answers with a vision to be written down and a call to wait patiently in faith. “The just one, because of his faith, shall live.”

Paul sounds a call to interior action, urging Timothy to stir into flame the gift of God: a spirit of courage, energy, and action. Though separated by over six centuries, the prophet Habakkuk and the apostles Paul and Timothy faced suffering and destruction; all three responded by witnessing to their faith in the God of Israel. For Paul, this faith finds expression in fidelity to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel answers two questions: how do we get this faith and what do we do with it in the face of trials? We get it by asking. Jesus tells the apostles it is not a matter of quantity but quality. A little faith can go a long way in producing results. While Luke’s version of this saying of Jesus is less dramatic than Matthew’s—with Luke faith can uproot a mulberry tree, while Matthew has it moving a mountain—the basic point is the same.

After his response, Jesus calls them to action. Faith flowers into service. Serving Christ, especially in the least and the needy, flows from faith. The vision faith provides carries us into making this world a better place, embodying the faith, hope, and love that can transform the world.

Consider/Discuss

How have you experienced the power of faith?
Has it helped you to get through difficult times, giving you strength to uproot any obstacle and toss it in the sea of God’s mercy?

Responding to the Word

Give us faith, generous God, to carry us through whatever trials and suffering might come in the future. We believe you are with us in all life’s circumstances and events, but darkness can sometimes cloud our vision. At those times, help our unbelief. Send your Spirit to strengthen us.