Ordinary Time

Dec 13 2024

In the Presence of the Holy One

Today we witness three encounters with the Holy One in three different settings, but with three similar responses, both immediate and long-term. Isaiah’s vision of God in the temple included angels surrounding God and praising God’s glory. His immediate response was fear and unworthiness at seeing the living God. But God’s compassionate action of purifying his lips leads Isaiah to offer his service.

For Simon Peter, the experience of the holy came when a stranger walked by as Simon was finishing an unsuccessful night of fishing. Jesus got into his boat, taught the crowds first, then turned to Simon. Something in Jesus’ manner must have persuaded Simon to follow his directions. The result was so many fish that the boats almost sank. Simon suddenly knew he was in the presence of the Holy One. Unworthiness and fear flooded his heart, but, as God did with Isaiah, Jesus removed Simon’s fear and Simon followed him.

Paul briefly alludes to his own unworthiness to be an apostle, rooted in his experience of the Holy One on the road to Damascus. He witnesses to God’s grace at work by preaching what has been handed on to him: that Christ died for our sins, was raised from the dead, and appeared to Paul, the least of all the apostles.

An experience of the holy can come to us in church, in the midst of our work, or even when we are heading in a very different direction than the one God has planned for us. Pray God we will respond to it.

Consider/Discuss

Are you are open to the presence of the Holy One in worship and in daily life?
What does it mean to say, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed”?

Responding to the Word

O Holy God, we pray that we may be open to recognizing your holy presence wherever and however you show yourself to us. Do not let fear of our unworthiness prevent us from responding to your invitation to serve you in whatever way you ask.

Dec 13 2024

Scripture Study for

The reading from Isaiah reports a visionary experience the prophet had during a liturgical celebration held in the temple. The God of Israel is depicted as supreme among all other gods, since only the mightiest would be sitting on the heavenly throne. This is a bold idea for a vulnerable nation in the throes of political unrest. The threefold acclamation of praise—Holy! Holy! Holy!—expresses the superlative. There is no god as holy as the God of Israel. It is not by accident that, rather than his eyes or his hands, Isaiah’s lips are cleansed. He will, after all, use them to proclaim the word of the Lord.

The reading from Paul contains one of the earliest creedal statements: Christ died, he was buried, he was raised, and he appeared. Paul adds his own name to the list of those who saw the Lord. He likens himself to an aborted fetus, rejected from a womb and not ready for a normal birth. He turns this characterization into a profession of faith. Though once a persecutor, by the grace of God he now toils harder than all the others. His final statement is telling. It makes no difference who preaches the gospel, so long as others hear it and believe.

Simon and those with him in the boat recognize the divine power at work in and through Jesus. Jesus does not provide these fishermen a remarkable catch merely in order to dispel the frustration they experienced after an unsuccessful night of fishing. The miracle became an acted-out prophecy revealing both Jesus’ own mysterious authority and the ministry to which the disciples are being called. Jesus declares that a turning point in their lives has been reached. The commission states, From now on . . . ! The astonishment of the fishermen turns to commitment. They leave everything—the incredible catch, their business, the stability of their homes, families, and neighborhoods—and they follow him.

Dec 13 2024

God’s Word Expands the Heart

When Jesus went to his hometown synagogue on the Sabbath, after his time in the desert, he read a passage from Isaiah 61 (see last week’s Gospel), outlining a three-fold ministry of preaching the good news to the poor, bringing liberation to the oppressed and captives, and, above all, giving “recovery of sight to the blind”—a phrase from one of the Servant Songs (Isaiah 42:1–9) that presented a servant who came for all the nations.

Some have said the sudden switch from amazement at Jesus’ gracious words to a murderous hostility was due to Luke conflating several incidents. But a good argument has been made that it is Jesus extending the boundaries of God’s love to the Gentiles, those outside the covenant, that so enrages his hometown listeners, a group very similar to the present-day settlers in Israel. Then, Jesus pours oil on the flames by noting that two revered prophets of Israel, Elijah and Elisha, helped, even cured Gentiles rather than their own people.

During Israel’s history, God worked through the prophets—from Elijah to Isaiah to Jeremiah to Jesus—to expand the boundaries of the hearts of God’s people to include the poor, the weak, and the Gentiles. We hear God’s word attempting to penetrate our own hearts in St. Paul’s call to cultivate love: a call to patience and kindness, not being rude or self-seeking, but enduring all things. God’s word often calls for a dying so that more life can flood into and out from us.

Consider/Discuss

How has God’s word confronted you and called you to change?
What quality from St. Paul’s meditation on love do you find most difficult to live?

Responding to the Word

Your word, O Lord, is not always easy to receive. Sometimes it calls us to surrender what we most want to cling to, to take up what we most want to run from, and to live outside of where we are most comfortable. Give us courage to hear your word and to live it with fidelity.

Dec 13 2024

Scripture Study for

Having assured him of his prophetic call, God prepares Jeremiah for the fate that lies ahead of him. God will fortify the prophet as one would fortify a city. While the metaphor connotes extraordinary defense, it implies the possibility of massive assault. Jeremiah’s assailants will be the very people to whom he is sent to prophesy. They will include both the Jerusalem establishment and the people of the land. That is why he must prepare himself for battle. However, the passage ends with words of encouragement. His adversaries will not prevail against the prophet, because the Lord will be with him.

Paul’s praise of love is one of the best-known biblical passages. Last Sunday, Paul insisted that all gifts bestowed upon individuals by the Spirit function for the building up of the community. Today he concentrates on love, the “more excellent way.” He then contrasts life in this world with life in the next. Despite all of the gifts we receive from God, they are only partially realized here. The fragmentary nature of this life is compared to seeing but a reflection, while the perfect nature of the next life is like looking at someone face to face.

The scripture to which Jesus refers in this reading is a passage from Isaiah read as part of last Sunday’s Gospel (Isaiah 61:1–2). It announces the ultimate age of fulfillment. It provides a glimpse into the kind of messiah that Jesus will be, namely one who will refashion society for the sake of the oppressed. Here Jesus insists that God even goes beyond the confines of Israel into the territory of the Gentiles. This filled the people in the synagogue with fury. To think that the prophetic promise of fulfillment would be extended to the Gentiles was, in their estimation, pure blasphemy. In indignation, they rose up against Jesus. They drove him outside the city limits and sought to cast him down, but he escaped unscathed.

Dec 13 2024

God’s Word Enlivens the Spirit

Sometimes the Sunday scripture readings pass by barely noticed. The words read don’t get inside, perhaps because we are preoccupied or worrying over something. But every so often the reader and the words read become one in a way that enters into our heart. One such moment is recorded in today’s first reading.

This scene took place over five hundred years before the time of Jesus. The reader was Ezra the priest, who was standing up on a platform in an open place in the city of Jerusalem. The magnificent temple built by Solomon had been destroyed in 587 BC and the people had been taken off into exile in Babylon. In 538 they had been allowed to return, and now, for the first time, they were gath

ered to hear their priest Ezra read to them the book of the law, the Torah. This book taught them how God had saved them and how God wanted them to live. The people listened for hours, tears running down their faces, as Ezra read and explained to them the meaning of the words for their lives. These words fell upon the hearts of the listeners, penetrating the thick and hardened covering that exile had created, eventually causing their tears to flow. The word of God had done its work, bringing them back to life.

Sometimes rebirth happens gently, as we heard today; at other times, God’s word functions as shock therapy.

Consider/Discuss

Can you remember a time when God’s word penetrated your being?
Do you give God’s word any opportunity to make its home in you?
Have you ever celebrated God’s word speaking to you by going to “eat rich foods and drink sweet drinks”?

Responding to the Word

Lord God, you have given us your revealed word as spiritual food to nourish your people, and to strengthen your church as the Body of your Son Jesus Christ. May we recognize and partake of this food when we gather at the table of the Word.