Ordinary Time

Dec 10 2024

Scripture Study for

The relationship between Jeremiah and God was never easy. God demanded that Jeremiah give stern warnings and condemnations that brought the prophet pain and hatred. Yet the relationship was profoundly honest and intimate, allowing the prophet at times to express his deep resentment of his calling and even the fact that he had been born (Jeremiah 20:7–18). Here, at the scene of his calling, Jeremiah is told that he has been created to serve as God’s prophet; it is not an optional vocation. God recognizes that this life’s work will be painful for Jeremiah, but God also affirms that the prophet will be faithful to his role in speaking God’s word, because God will be with him.

Paul has been warning the Corinthians that the spiritual gifts they have received have led them to overvalue their own personal worth, taking pride in them and ranking them in importance. The result has been division, the exact opposite of what the gifts are intended to produce. As important as the gifts obviously are, they are a detriment to the community if they are not received and exercised in love. Love leads the individual to seek the good of others, to work for their benefit, and to give way to their needs when possible. The gifts given to the Corinthians are meant to be exercised in love and out of love; otherwise, they are not only wasted but indeed harmful.

In Nazareth, the people are amazed but also confused at Jesus’ announcement that the scriptures are now being fulfilled. This ambiguous response points to the perennial difficulty of recognizing who is a true prophet. Jesus assumes that the people want proof of his claim. Prophets such as Elijah and Elisha were known for working wonders, which were proofs of their authenticity. Rather than accede to this expectation, Jesus provocatively points out that there were times when both prophets helped non-Israelites instead of Israelites. While this reminder points to a central theme in Luke, the universal scope of Jesus’ mission, it infuriates the townspeople, once again illustrating the fact that prophets are often deeply unpopular among their own people.

Dec 09 2024

When Beauty Sweeps In

The conductor steps up to the platform, bows to the audience, turns to the orchestra and raises the baton. There is a hush. Hands and instruments are still. All eyes are on the podium. For that split second, no movement, no noise, an air of expectation. Then delicately, the baton dips. The violins begin to play. The cellos join in. The music swells and then fades. The virtuoso soloist takes the bow to the Stradivarius violin, and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major sweeps in, in all its beauty.

That delicate moment of stillness as a master conductor—when Leonard Bernstein raised his baton—was there a similar quiet when Ezra took the platform to read the newly-found law to the Jews? Was there was an expectant stillness in the synagogue when Jesus stood up to read from the scroll of Isaiah?

That hushed moment is a moment of promise. Something beautiful is about to begin.

The beauty of Ezra’s law is access to God. God the Beautiful is clean and holy. If a Jew wants to come close to God, then he or she has to be clean and holy. The law is the way. “The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul,” the psalmist sings. The law is deeply beloved for the access that it provides. The people weep. They want to see God.

The beauty of the coming of Jesus is access to God. The law has been fulfilled: Jesus himself is the Way. The Spirit of the Lord is upon him. The kingdom has come. The law has swept into all its glory in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. The love of God has come in human form.

Today’s Gospel is the hush before Jesus’ ministry starts. Something beautiful is about to begin.

Consider/Discuss

Luke begins the story of Jesus today, a story of healing and redemption and God’s self-gift. In these hushed winter nights, read through the whole Gospel to get the sweep of the symphony. How does the beauty of the whole story touch you?
Many nights, I listen to Itzhak Perlman play Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major before I fall asleep. The beauty of it leads me into the hush of prayer. St. Augustine prays, “Late have I loved thee, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new. Late have I loved thee.” How do you allow beauty to lead you to God the Beautiful?

Living and Praying with the Word

Holy Spirit, Holy Conductor, hush our noise. As you lift your baton, help us to focus our eyes on you and get ready to play. You give each of us a different instrument, a different part, a unique role in the symphony of life. St. Paul asks us to play our part faithfully. As we head into Ordinary Time in these ordinary days, we don’t know what this New Year will hold. But we believe that your desire is to create something beautiful—liberty to captives, sight to the blind, freedom for the oppressed. Direct us in our part toward that beauty. For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory!

Dec 09 2024

Scripture Study for

The passage from Nehemiah depicts the renewal of the relationship between God and Israel after the Exile. After hearing Ezra read the entire book of the covenant, the people respond “Amen, amen,” reaffirming their commitment to the covenant relationship. The scene is reminiscent of earlier moments in Israel’s history in which the covenant was established or renewed (Exodus 24:1–8; Joshua 24:1–28; 2 Kings 23:1–3). The event not only represents a fresh start for Israel but also reminds the reader that with God such a fresh start is always possible. This is why the people are to rejoice and feast, for their strength lies not in themselves but in their God.

The gifts given to the Corinthians have led, against the intentions of the Spirit, to division. Human pride has tempted some to set themselves over others, suggesting that some gifts are more important than others. Paul reminds the Corinthians that they are a single “body,” whose various parts (those who have received different gifts) are all necessary for its health. At the same time, no single part (gift) can function on its own apart from the others. All gifts are necessary, and none is sufficient unto itself. In the same way, the Corinthians must see themselves as a single organic body whose various parts need each other to be healthy and whole, in the way the Spirit intends.

We commence our reading of the Gospel of Luke with the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus inaugurates his mission in his hometown by announcing that with him the ancient hopes of Israel are being fulfilled. The “year acceptable to the Lord” refers to the jubilee year in which debts were released and any land or other property that had been sold or given away by the poor was returned (Leviticus 25:10–11). This year was ordained by God to restore Israelite society after human nature had led some to “bind” others in debt and even oppression. Thus Jesus announces that in him God has come to release everyone from the effects of human sin.

Dec 09 2024

Fencing with God

I read the first line from Isaiah: “I will not be silent . . . I will not keep still” and I burst with exasperation: “Come on, God! Do it! Talk a little more! If there was ever a time when we need you to show yourself, it’s now. Don’t be so silent! Don’t be stingy with your revelation. So many folks don’t feel that you are here, that you are at work in this world. Come on! Show yourself!”

Is it okay to have a fencing match with God?

I hope so. Jacob wrestled an angel for a blessing. Jeremiah rebutted that he was too young to be a prophet. Moses argued, “No, not really, send someone else.”

There are times, maybe, when we just want God to do something. Stop working so behind the scenes: “Come on, God!” Does Mary feel that way? Yes; she is the mother who does not sin, but she experiences emotion. Here at the wedding, she seems frustrated. She loves these relatives. She trusts how big-hearted Jesus is—surely he can do something! “They have no wine,” she says. Their repartee is like fencing: back and forth they go at it, like devoted old married folks who believe in their love. Mary does not let it go: Do something, Jesus!

Jesus’ response isn’t stingy. The wine overflows. Sixty gallons of the choicest drink pours forth. That abundance reveals his generosity in the first of his signs. Mary’s swordplay pays off.

I don’t often get an answer to my jousting with God. But as I was driving under a railroad bridge once, coming home from an appointment, I thought perhaps, maybe, I got a comeback? In my head, I heard, “Come on, Karla!”

Touché, God.

Consider/Discuss

Today’s reading from John runs on many levels, from the miracle story on the surface, to allusions to the generosity of God at baptism, to the overflowing richness of the heavenly banquet. On how many levels is God being revealed in our world right now? Are we seeing it? If we want the world to change, what’s our responsibility in helping that to happen?
Is it okay to have a fencing match with God? Do you do that sometimes, too? Mary trusted that Jesus would respond. And he did, generously. What has been your experience? Has arguing with God changed something? If you don’t spar with God, what keeps you from getting into the fray?

Living and Praying with the Word

Living God, thank you for your generosity in my life. I don’t always remember it. I don’t always feel it. And I mourn for those who do not know you, who have not been overwhelmed by your love, who seem to walk all alone without seeing your support. They have no wine. I love them. It is for them I pray; it is for their sake that I wrestle with you. Show yourself to them.

And yes, I will get going, too. Help me. Show yourself through me. I know that I have much more loving and serving to do on this earth before I am done. I am willing to do it. Through your grace, God, well, let’s go make some wine!

Or maybe some tea?

Dec 09 2024

Scripture Study for

Isaiah’s post-exilic passage focuses on the healing of Israel’s relationship with God, which had been severely damaged by centuries of infidelity, culminating in a period of judgment now coming to an end. This healing will be manifested publicly by the restoration of Jerusalem and the surrounding area. (“Land” signifies the people also.) Just as the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of the people had been seen by other nations, so shall the restoration, which the nations will behold as it “shines forth like the dawn,” like “a burning torch.” The land—and Israel—will no longer be known as forsaken or desolate, but as God’s delight and God’s beloved “spouse.”

In his First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul emphasizes the profit and the dangers of the manifold spiritual gifts that God bestows on the church. The Corinthians apparently were well provided with such gifts, but this abundance had led to pride and division. Here Paul notes that the various gifts all come from the same Spirit, which means that they are inherently unified and unifying. Pride is ruled out by the fact that the ability to prophesy or heal or interpret tongues is an unmerited divine gift, not something one has earned or can claim to “possess.” Rather, all are distributed by the Spirit according to the mysterious will of God.

In the Gospels, and especially in John, the “wondrous deeds” of Jesus are “signs” of underlying realities. At the wedding at Cana, when Jesus changes water into wine, it is true that he exhibits charity by “saving the day.” More importantly, his action is also a revelation of God’s abundant generosity and the fulfillment of God’s promises to provide for the people. Water is necessary for life, but wine represents the gifts of God that go beyond necessity. Jesus himself is the perfect and complete manifestation of God’s abundant and joyful gifts to all who accept them. He is the “wine” that God provides for people to give them “abundant life” (John 10:10).