Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jan 12 2025

Ordinary Time, Extraordinary Courage

The prophet Jeremiah captures my imagination. He is called to speak the word of the Lord at a tender age: “I am too young,” he objects. Repeatedly he resists his call to preach: “I try to hold it in, but it burns like fire in my heart, imprisoned in my bones.” He is brutally honest before God. He is also starkly straightforward with kings. His forthrightness gets him into trouble: he’s thrown into the muck of a cistern, imprisoned in the stocks, mocked and made fun of, and ultimately hauled off to Egypt to end his life where he doesn’t want to be.

Do you ever wonder if Jeremiah wished that he could simply be an ordinary guy? God’s call was sometimes just too challenging. “You duped me, Lord,” he says, “and I let myself be duped.” He may have prayed today’s psalm: “Rescue me from the mire, and do not let me sink . . . for it is on your account that I bear insult.” Though he is smacked down over and over, Jeremiah keeps popping back up again.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus warns the disciples of that same kind of opposition. He knows that the muck is real. But he says time after time, “Do not be afraid . . . Even the hairs of your head are counted.” What are we to be afraid of? Not physical death, but spiritual cowardice.

Fortitude is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. There may be times when life calls for swashbuckling bravado. But more often, the Divine Nudge encourages us to roll out of bed with an “it doesn’t matter how you feel today, just get up and keep going” kind of everyday courage. Sainthood is in the small things. Heroic virtue grows through giving God one obedient yes at a time.

Consider/Discuss

Fear is part of life. We get burned and we grow cautious. Yet Jesus says repeatedly, “Do not be afraid.” In what part of our lives do we need Holy Spirit fortitude so that we can keep rising back up to do what we are called to do, in spite of our fear or weakness?
The saints and prophets were brutally honest in their relationship with God. Are you willing to yell at God, to pour out your heart in prayer and be forthright with the Creator of the universe? Why or why not? What does that look like?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord, sometimes I’d rather stay in bed and take life easy. Yet Jeremiah and the saints and you yourself show me another way—to keep giving and loving and preaching even when it is personally challenging. Guide my discernment in the balance between self-care and self-gift. I seek you. I offer myself to you. Help me to trust you to use me according to your best lights, for you watch over even the hairs of my head. Cast out my fear and keep me close to you.

Jan 10 2025

Scripture Study for

Just prior to this week’s reading, Jeremiah has complained to God that God has “seduced” him—drawn him into a difficult mission of proclaiming God’s word of judgment to a faithless and violent people. In the face of rejection, the prophet has tried to walk away from his calling, but like a fire burning in his heart, the word of God demands to be heard (20:7–9). Yet despite danger and even the treachery of friends, Jeremiah ultimately trusts that God will defend him “like a mighty champion” because he is doing God’s work. In Jeremiah we see both the depths of suffering in relationship with God and the heights of trust and hope despite it all.

Paul explains to the Romans how the death of Christ has saved humanity from death and sin. Paul understands sin here not as a human act of the breaking of covenant commands (“law”), but as a malevolent, intractable power that entered the world through human disobedience. This power, which spread through all Adam’s descendants, brought with it death. Thus all people, even those who were not under the covenant obligations to God, sinned, even if they were not breaking “the law” (Torah). Thus death “reigned” over all. The obedience of Christ ends this reign by flooding humanity with grace, a gift from God to deliver the descendants of Adam from the bondage of sin and its “wages” of death (6:23).

As Jesus sends the Twelve out to proclaim the kingdom, he warns them of opposition. This warning shades into predictions of what the early church will face after Easter. Out of fear for their lives and livelihoods, they will be tempted to withdraw from the task of proclaiming the gospel, or even to deny Christ. Yet this is what they are being formed to do: to proclaim publicly what they are learning from and about Jesus. In the face of fear, they must remember not only that God cares for them, but also that even physical death is to be preferred to the spiritual death that would follow from apostasy or abandoning the call to proclaim the gospel.

Dec 16 2024

The Unexpected Messiah

The apostles were probably not all that different from the other members of their families or their friends. They were not very different from the other Jews of their day. Indeed, given the expectations and hopes we have for our own leaders today, we would not have answered Jesus much differently. They were waiting for the Messiah to come, and once he came, life would be good again.

They expected the Messiah (which means “Anointed One”) to come in power and might; a liberator like Moses, who led God’s people out of slavery; a great king like David, who brought the people of the divided northern and southern kingdoms into one nation. How wonderful would this new era be, ushered in by such a Messiah!

Imagine their surprise when Jesus rebukes Peter for saying that he is “The Christ [Messiah] of God” (9:20). Greater their surprise when Jesus goes on to say that he must suffer greatly, be rejected by their religious leaders, and be killed— but also be raised from death on the third day (9:22). It is fair to wonder if, in their shock, they even heard the part about being raised. The ultimate stunning news, however, would have been that to follow their Messiah, they must be willing to deny themselves, taking up their crosses every day.

A person like this Messiah would not get a lot of votes, even today. But it is through faith in Christ Jesus, Anointed One of God, that we have become children of God. And so we are called, as Paul tells us, to clothe ourselves with Christ (Galatians 3:27), another way of saying “Take up your cross, every day.”

Consider/Discuss

If Jesus asked you “Who do you say that I am?” what would your answer be?
In what ways does daily life call upon you to take up your cross? What form does this command take in the life of the whole Church?

Responding to the Word

Jesus Christ, our Messiah, let us be clothed with your risen glory, as each day we walk with you, carrying the cross that life calls on us to bear. Increase our faith in you; help us to know your gracious loving presence with us always.

Dec 16 2024

Scripture Study for

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is praying in a certain place and uses the opportunity for reflection to inform the disciples about his identity and theirs. Jesus clarifies what it means to be God’s messiah (Christ). It means to “suffer greatly,” to endure rejection, then to be killed. The disciples must be willing to take up a cross if they wish to follow Jesus.

The position of these events is instructive. Right before them we read that Jesus had sent the disciples out on a mission during which they had preached and healed (Luke 9:1–6). Upon their return, they witnessed Jesus’ multiplication of the five loaves and two fishes so that five thousand were fed. Moreover, Jesus had told them that they were to do the same: “Give them some food yourselves” (9:13). Thus, the disciples are filled with examples of the power of the ministry that they are to undertake. Lest they think that ministry is a move from power to power, Jesus takes the opportunity to tell them that the way of ministry is the path that he will take from suffering to glory.

The section that follows today’s Gospel reading is about the transfiguration of Jesus, and it is also helpful for determining the significance of today’s readings. Only in Luke’s account of the Transfiguration do we hear that Moses and Elijah were speaking with Jesus about “his exodus that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem” (9:31). These words of theirs pick up Jesus’ exhortation to the disciples that they must come after him by denying themselves and following him (9:23).

Luke would have the disciples realize that they are to exercise a powerful ministry for others while participating in their own exodus by following Jesus. The images of the Exodus and of taking up the cross to follow Jesus imply the rigors of a difficult time filled with suffering. They also imply, however, that the end of the journey is the Promised Land and resurrection.