Ordinary Time

Jan 06 2025

Trustworthy Servants of a Trustworthy God

The author of Hebrews calls our attention to the faith of Abraham. Abraham’s faith showed itself in his willingness to depart from his home and leave his kin, to trust a promise that his descendants would outnumber the stars, and to be willing to trust God to provide even when God asked him to sacrifice the son who guaranteed the promised future. Through all this, a covenant was initiated.

Moses and his people trusted God to take them from the slavery of Egypt to freedom. God’s trustworthiness was shown over the coming centuries, not only by leading them into a promised land, but into a covenantal relationship that found itself renewed again and again, despite Israel’s infidelities.

With Jesus came a new covenant in his blood, and a call to his followers to replace any fear they might have with an abiding trust in the Father to give them the promised kingdom. He spoke about having a fidelity that would characterize them as good servants in the household of faith. The hallmarks of this fidelity would be watchfulness for the master’s return, a commitment to guarding the treasures of the household and caring for its members, and an abiding bond among those who serve.

The stakes of being a good servant are great: either to earn the respect of the master on his return or to lose it, to receive the gratitude of a master who would serve them or to see only sadness and disappointment in his eyes.

Consider/Discuss

How do you respond to the call to be a trustworthy servant?
What form does service to the Lord and the divine household take in your life?

Responding to the Word

Jesus, you have promised that if we are faithful in serving you, as you have been in serving the Father’s will by your life and death, then you will invite us to recline at table on your return and you will wait on us. Help us to find in this promise good reason to serve you.

Jan 06 2025

Scripture Study for

The reading from Wisdom reinterprets the account of the plagues experienced in Egypt. It contrasts the plight of the Israelites and that of the Egyptians, showing how God reversed the very means employed by the Egyptians to afflict the Israelites. The Egyptians themselves were smitten, while the Israelites escaped unscathed. The focus in this account is on the providence of God in sparing the Israelites. For Israel, there was always a point of pride in these wondrous feats. However, they were ultimately accomplished for the glory of God’s name, never for the glory of Israel itself.

The author of Hebrews states that faith is an openness of mind and heart, not merely a set of propositions. He turns to Abraham’s faith to illustrate this. Abraham was willing to leave his home for a land he did not know. His faith became apparent again at the conception of Isaac. Finally, Abraham’s faith was manifested in his willingness to respond to God’s command to sacrifice that son of promise. The prospect of Isaac’s death demonstrates his trust that the God who brought life from a man who was “as good as dead” could bring about the life of this son.

Jesus’ address to his disciples reveals the tender nature of their relationship. The metaphor of a flock suggests both intimate knowledge and wholehearted commitment on the part of the shepherd. He assures them that, regardless of how demanding his teaching might seem, it has their best interests at heart. He announces that the reign of God is theirs, and he then exhorts them to live lives that demonstrate their citizenship in that realm. He directs them to be watchful, instructing them to be prepared like servants awaiting the return of the house holder. He links the return of the householder with the coming of the Son of Man. Since there is no telling when he will arrive, loyal servants must be prepared at all times.

Jan 06 2025

Lasting Riches

What are your three major worries? What gets you tossing and turning at night? Money? Family? The future? Work? Then the book of Ecclesiastes is for you. There is some comfort in its world-weary wisdom. All is passing—life, love, property, worries. What good does it do to worry yourself to death? Death will come soon enough when God turns us all back to dust (that’s a little of the psalmist thrown in, for further emphasis). Now, into the week!

Thank God for Jesus. He certainly is a wise teacher in today’s Gospel, sidestepping a request to get involved in family bickering over an inheritance. His work was about getting people into the kingdom, not getting people to share the family gold. Even so, Jesus draws a lesson from this situation for the crowd: Avoid greed. Don’t reduce your life to what you accumulate.

To bring it home, he tells about a rich man so sure he is going to be around tomorrow that he plans on stockpiling all his goods for himself so he can “rest, eat, drink, and be merry” for the rest of his days. But God has other plans for him.

Jesus’ wisdom: Be rich in what matters to God. Colossians agrees: Think of what is above, of Christ at God’s right hand, of the glory that awaits you. Make Christ your all and God your treasure. Remember that the goal is transformation, not accumulation. So, put on that new self; put on Christ.

Consider/Discuss

What have you changed by worrying?
Do you accept Jesus as your teacher? What is he trying to teach you today?

Responding to the Word

Jesus, teach me to place my life and the lives of those I love in your hands. Help me to be rich in what matters to God, and to put on the new person who is the fulfillment of the Father’s plan for me. Give us all wisdom of heart.

Jan 06 2025

Scripture Study for

The word “vanity” means breath or vapor. It denotes a transitory nature or the lack of substance. “Vanity of vanities” is a way of expressing the superlative. Qoheleth is saying that everything is transitory. He is not passing judgment on living itself, but on the anticipation of future satisfaction. Our own transitory nature places the future in jeopardy, and so it is vain to place our hope of satisfaction there. This does not mean that we should refrain from commitment and hard work. It does suggest that the real fruits of our actions are found in the actions themselves rather than in what we might be able to enjoy of them in the future.

The Colossians are told to set their minds on the things of heaven because they are now joined to the risen Christ. Christ’s life is the new source for their own lives, and they will share in his ultimate manifestation in glory. Their transformation is characterized as putting off the old self and putting on the new, as one would change clothing. Finally, Paul insists that in this new way of living distinctions such as race, religious origin, gender, culture, or social status no longer feed bias or discrimination. Such distinctions need not be separations. Christ is the exclusive and determining force in all.

Jesus is approached by a man who wants him to act as arbiter between himself and his brother. Jesus uses this encounter as an occasion to teach a lesson about the futility of a life spent in amassing material possessions. The rich man is not censured because of his wealth, but because of the greed that underlies his actions. The man’s death is not a punishment for his greed. It is simply the end of his life of excess. It points out the futility of that life. Jesus draws out the moral of his story. It is foolish to devote one’s life to the amassing of goods and to be bereft in what matters to God.

Dec 17 2024

Persisting in Prayer

In this delightful story from the book of Genesis, Abraham is presented as being on such intimate terms with God that God not only talks things over with Abraham, but responds to Abraham’s gentle nudging. Notice how Abraham first “draws nearer” to God, asking if God will really sweep away the innocent with the guilty. Then he increases the pressure: “Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?” Quite of bit of chutzpah there! In the end, God momentarily yields to Abraham’s persuasive—and persistent—intercession.

Jesus urges his disciples to persist in prayer to God, after teaching his prayer to them. This great prayer is the basis for our approaching God with persistence. We are told to call God Father, and then to make two prayers of praise and three petitions to God. Those praying move from blessing and praising God’s name and sovereignty to asking for our most basic needs: bread, forgiveness, and deliverance from evil. Jesus follows the gift of his prayer with advice and encouragement.

His advice is to persist; his encouragement is to remember that God is a father who loves his children. God will not refuse the gift of the Spirit to those who have been buried with Christ and have already been raised with him in baptism. As the author of the Letter to the Colossians reminds us, God brought you to life along with Christ even when you were dead in sin. How could God refuse us anything that was truly good for us?

Consider/Discuss

Do you have confidence that God will hear your prayer?
Do you ask for the Holy Spirit to help you in your prayer?

Responding to the Word

Lord, may I come to know the truth of the words of today’s response: “Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.” May we rest peacefully in that assurance that we have received a Spirit of adoption that allows us to cry, “Abba, Father.”