Year A

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

After besting Jezebel’s prophets, Elijah runs away to Horeb, where God appears, accusingly asking him why he is there. He responds that his life has been threatened. The command to “stand before the Lord” means to serve God; Elijah is in effect being told to get back to work. Yet before he returns to the task, God has a lesson for him. Visible phenomena that regularly accompany God are not God, who is found in silence, barely perceptible, but nonetheless present. God again asks, so why are you here? Although Elijah’s role as God’s prophet endangers him, God’s protecting presence is with him, even when he cannot see it. He must learn to trust in it.

Paul has proclaimed that God has predestined and foreknown those who would be conformed to Christ and become heirs with him to glory. Thus a difficult question: what to make of the fact that so many Jews have not accepted that Jesus is the Messiah? To speak of the divine plan is to speak of God’s history with Israel, beginning with God’s “adoption” of Israel and culminating in the promised Messiah. Accordingly, they should be receiving the adoption, the inheritance, and the glory now coming to those who have been conformed to Christ through baptism. It would appear that something has gone horribly wrong with God’s plan. Paul will go on to develop his argument that this does not mean that “the word of God has failed” (9:6).

The multiplication of the fish and loaves showed that in Jesus God was providing, something God regularly does in the scriptures. Today’s reading, which immediately follows, features another action associated with God: salvation from chaos, often portrayed as dangerous waters. Just as in the Old Testament God proclaims that in the divine presence there is nothing to fear from chaos, so does Jesus. But it requires faith to believe that Jesus can save from chaos. Thus it is not so much that Jesus has walked on water that causes those in the boat to exclaim that he is the Son of God, as their witness that he has saved Peter from the chaotic waters (despite his lack of faith).

Jan 12 2025

Waiting in Joyful Hope

It’s a look in the eyes—simple, trusting, innocent, almost pleading. The psalmist must have known it: “The eyes of all look hopefully to you.” Do you know that look?

I recall one day when I was trimming the fat off of a ham. I opened the door to the garage with a plateful of scraps. Our dog, Heikki, sat waiting. His big brown eyes looked hopefully at me. His tail wagged. Something tasty was coming!

Another day, the smell of brownies fills the kitchen. The timer rings. Ten-year-old Samadhi dashes around the corner and her big brown eyes look hopefully at me: are they done yet? Something delicious is coming!

What about the ten thousand hungry eyes in that deserted place in the Gospel? Might they have had that same pleading, hopeful look as Jesus looked up to heaven, said the blessing and broke the loaves of bread? Something good was coming!

I remember my mom standing in the front hall at the storm door watching for family to arrive for Christmas. Her blue eyes brimmed with expectation. She waited in joyful hope. Someone beloved was arriving!

Have you seen that look? Do you have that look?

Like the people in that deserted place, we get hungry. We get thirsty. The sun is hot and the wait is long and we are not satisfied. When troubles come, sometimes we turn our eyes inward, clench our fists, and get stuck in anxiety and worry that swirls round and round inside.

In our thirst, we could instead look up, wag our tails, and dash around the corner with a look in our eyes that something more is coming. We wait in joyful hope. Someone beloved is coming!

“You open wide your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.” We are fed, deliciously.

Consider/Discuss

At our Sunday liturgy, we open wide our hands to receive Jesus in the Eucharist. What “look” do we have in our eyes at that time?
We live in a culture inundated with self-absorbed anxiety. How do “being thirsty or hungry” for God and “being anxious” differ? What does our response to trouble reveal about where (and from whom) we expect to find answers?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord, you are near to all who call upon you. You ask us to pay attention, to be aware, to come to you, source of living water. Open our clenched fists, for why should we hang on to the anxiety and worry that do not bring us life? Help us to lift our eyes to you and wait in joyful hope. You give us more than we could ever ask for: overflowing baskets full of abundance.

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

Chapters 40–55 of Isaiah, which emerged out of the late exilic period, insist that God is bringing an end to the period of judgment and will restore Israel beyond its former glory. This judgment came about because of Israel’s persistent refusal to believe that God alone, and not other gods, could provide all that Israel needed. In other words, they offered to other gods worship and sacrifice and received nothing in return. Now they are being offered a chance at real bread, at true satisfaction. All that is required is trust and fidelity that God, and God alone, is the source of life for Israel.

Paul has assured the Romans that they are the recipients of God’s gracious plan to bring them into conformity with the image of Christ, fulfilling their destiny to be God’s adopted children and heirs with Christ to glory. Knowing this, and that “all things work for good for those who love God,” they have nothing to fear. They have been baptized in Christ because of God’s own plan, and God will not allow that plan to go awry. They are secure in Christ and thus in Christ’s love. Absolutely nothing on earth, not angelic or other powers, not death itself can separate Christians from God. (Height and depth, as creatures, may refer to hostile forces associated with zodiacal signs.)

When Jesus hears that Herod’s impulsiveness and pride have led to the death of John the Baptist, his response is to withdraw in solitude. Yet when the crowds pursue him his pity for them recalls him to ministry. This is, after all, what he has come to do. The miracle of the fish and loaves reflects the abundance of God’s care and provision for the people, seen in Israel’s history and often imagined as a banquet in the eschaton (end of time). God’s abundant generosity is seen in the fact that they have more left over than they began with. Scholars note that the word for “fragments” here is the same as the word used in early Christian sources for the broken bread in eucharistic celebrations.

Jan 12 2025

What Really Matters?

What does it mean to you, on this day, to hear Jesus say to sell all that you have for the kingdom of heaven? Does it might mean that you empty your bank account, give your resources to the poor, and go become a missionary in a far-off place? Does it mean that you once more offer breakfast (kindly) to an unappreciative teenager when every bone in your body wants to do otherwise? Does it might mean that you put all your cans of green beans and crushed pineapple into a box and drive down to the St. Vincent DePaul Center and leave it on their doorstep before they open?

Not as a pious platitude, but in a concrete-and-practical-everyday sort-of-way, what does “sell all you have for the kingdom of heaven” actually mean? I am guessing, since you are reading this reflection on a hot day at the end of July (when you could be doing so many other things), that this is a question that matters to you.

For that’s what it boils down to, doesn’t it: What matters? Jesus calls us to be single-minded about what matters. If you find a treasure in a field, buy the field; if you find a pearl of great price, buy the pearl. Distractions swirl around us; clutter kills clarity. Focus clarifies. Single-mindedness simplifies. Figure out what matters. Solomon asked God for a listening heart so that he could discern carefully. We ask for that, too. Before we even get out of bed in the morning, we pray, “Lord, make it clear what matters today.” Then in the power of the Holy Spirit, when you discover today’s treasure, with unstinting resolve, go for it! Lay down your life, in matters great and small. Passionately. Totally. For the glory of God.

Consider/Discuss

The morning offering is a prayer in which we give God our upcoming day so that we are conformed into the image of Christ. What most richly brings about our daily transformation?
Where is the clutter? Look at time, thoughts, emotions, activities, possessions, relationships. What can you clean today?

Living and Praying with the Word

Holy Spirit, come and rule the ordinary days of our lives. Give us the grace of discernment to see what really matters. We want to follow where you guide us. Transform our clutter into focus. We don’t always see clearly, but in our heart of hearts, we want to follow you wholeheartedly. Wonderful are your ways! Show us. Lead us. Transform us to be the people you want us to be.

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

King Solomon is known in the tradition for having unparalleled wisdom. The Bible affirms that wisdom comes from God, it is not a human creation. Accordingly, Solomon became wise because he asked for the divine gift of wisdom. God, who might have expected a human king to grasp for wealth or long life, instead receives a request from Solomon for the wisdom to rule justly. Nothing could be more pleasing to the divine will than a desire to serve God and God’s people well and with integrity. Thus God readily accedes to Solomon’s pious request. (And because Solomon did not ask for it, God throws in wealth and the promise of long life.)

Paul has been writing to the Romans about the hope of glory they have as adopted children of God in Christ. This destiny has been part of the divine plan from the beginning, and is achieved through conformity to Christ, the exemplary human being. Those who are called to this glory are first justified, the divine accomplishment in Christ that has been the subject of much of the earlier part of the letter. The point of this short section is to emphasize that God has had things securely in hand from the beginning. All things work for good for those who respond to the divine call to be conformed to Christ, and thus justified, one day glorified.

Throughout Matthew’s Gospel Jesus has warned that entering the kingdom of heaven is a challenging undertaking, and few persevere. Yet persevere they must. Like a great treasure or a valuable pearl, the kingdom is worth giving up everything else to “obtain.” The invitation is open to everyone. Like a great net, it sweeps through the world capturing everyone. Only those who refuse to conform their lives to it will find themselves cast out. The kingdom is a gift but, paradoxically, one that comes at a price. Those who understand this are able to accept both his “new” teaching and recognize that it is a reflection of the “old” teaching of the law and prophets (Matthew 5:17–20).