Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jan 12 2025

Scripture Study for

The final chapters of Isaiah come from the post-exilic period, a time of struggle, in which God’s promises of restoration were slow in coming to fruition. The prophetic exhortation encourages continued hope in God’s salvation and justice. The promises now extend not just to ethnic Israel, but to all who come to God’s “holy mountain” (the temple in Jerusalem) to worship God and to abide by the covenant. This passage is one of several that appear in the post exilic period that refer to God’s larger plan to bring “all peoples” into relationship through Israel. Those who would join themselves to God will also be expected to love, serve, and obey.

Paul has been grappling with the question of Israel’s role within God’s plan, in light of the fact that so many Jews have not accepted Jesus as the Messiah (Romans 9–11). Knowing that God has not rejected the chosen (11:1), he suggests this (temporary) rejection was part of the plan to carry salvation beyond Israel. Those Gentiles who have accepted Christ should not judge Jews who have not, for their own salvation is only possible because they have been “grafted” onto Israel and received the benefits of their covenant relationship with God. Paul’s hope is that Israel has been allowed to disobey so that, like the Gentiles, they too can receive God’s mercy.

While in Gentile territory, Jesus encounters a woman who calls him “Lord” and “Son of David,” terms one would expect only from Jews who recognized him as Messiah. Uncharacteristically, Jesus ignores her. Yet when his disciples ask him to send her away, he doesn’t; he simply says he was not sent to the Gentiles. Perhaps recognizing that this objection does not constitute an outright refusal, the woman persists. Once again Jesus merely offers an objection: what is meant for the children (Israel) should not be given to the dogs (Gentiles). She persists, pointing out that there is enough of his salvific power to go around. This insightful retort wins the day. Jesus rewards her persistence, a sign of her faith.

Jan 06 2025

Focus, Focus, Focus

Losing focus can be dangerous to your health. A man recalled in an interview how he had taken his eyes off the road for only three seconds to check his cell phone, when he smashed into the car in front of him. An expert on the addictive nature of digital technology suggested that when driving, cell phone owners should throw it out of reach in the back seat of the car. Cell phones are a danger to our focus on the road.

Jesus shifts how we usually focus on him today—not as preaching or teaching or healing or shepherding, but as casting fire on the earth; not as peacemaker but as divider. This might not make us too happy. Who wants an incendiary Jesus torching the land, or Jesus the homebreaker causing trouble in our family relationships? But Luke’s focus on Jesus cannot be tossed aside

Like Jeremiah, Jesus had to tell people what they didn’t want to hear: that Jerusalem was going to be destroyed, that it wasn’t enough to think God would protect the citizens simply because they laid claim to the temple, the law, or the Sabbath. Laying claims didn’t matter if you didn’t live them. Laying claim to Jesus means living as a disciple of Jesus, keeping your eyes on Jesus as our “leader and perfecter of faith.” Faith ties, not blood ties, are what matter. Jesus came to bring into being a new family through his saving death and resurrection. That’s the faith focus.

Consider/Discuss

Have you ever had an experience of losing focus when navigating, or being called to, the digital world (cell phone, Internet, texting)?
What is Jesus calling our attention to, when he says he has come to set the earth on fire, or to bring division, not peace?

Responding to the Word

Jesus, you came to enlighten the eyes of our hearts so that we might see you as our leader, hear you as the very Word of God, and follow you along the way you have led. Do not let us grow weary and lose heart, but set our spirits afire with your life-giving Spirit.

Jan 06 2025

Scripture Study for

The reading from Jeremiah is a drama of national crisis, prophetic involvement, and political power plays. Jerusalem is under siege and seems to be losing the battle. The prophet’s message has demoralized the soldiers. Such behavior is considered an act of treason punishable by death. Placed in a cistern, Jeremiah is saved by a foreigner. The unrest in the kingdom is almost tangible. Not only do the people have to contend with a nation that is mightier than they are, but there is no stability in their own government and they are divided over the matter of prophetic proclamation. Jeremiah appears to be the center of contention.

The author of Hebrews argues that just as athletic games were often held in large amphitheaters, which could accommodate throngs of spectators, so Christians are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Just as athletes are spurred on by the cheers of the people in the stands, so Christians are encouraged by those who have preceded them. Success in athletics requires that one have a goal that is kept uppermost in one’s mind. Jesus should be the goal continually held before the eyes of the Christian. Like athletes on the field, the Christians are urged to strain further and further.

Jesus says that he has come to cast fire on the earth and to cause division at the very heart of human society. While Jesus himself is a man of peace, the message that he proclaims is clearly divisive. Many of the claims he makes cut to the core of our dominant social and religious customs and understanding. He makes demands on people that challenge them to the very heart of their being. He insists that commitment to him and his message must take precedence over any political and even kinship loyalties. This is the cause of the division described in the passage. The animosity that Jesus generates is the cause of his own rejection and ultimate suffering and death.

Dec 11 2024

Family Divisions

To be honest, at first glance, I don’t really like today’s Gospel reading. I like family unity.

At a meeting I once attended, the opening ice-breaker was “Describe your perfect vacation.” People talked about seeing the Louvre in Paris, climbing the Rocky Mountains, marching with the jazz bands in New Orleans . . . When the going-around-the-circle answer-the-question got to me, I drew a blank on location. I said, “I don’t really care where I am. I’d like to be on a beach somewhere with my husband and all five of my kids and their spouses and grandkids and they are all getting along.” Maybe it was my facial expression. Maybe it was my dramatic pause. Everyone laughed.

I was serious.

I do like today’s reading from Hebrews: “we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” and “persevere in running the race.” Isn’t it great? That fervor fires my soul!

Guess what? That fervor is what Jesus is talking about in the Gospel, too. In the first century, family mattered even more than it does now. To be disowned by your family meant a loss of honor and livelihood, even starvation and death. Jesus is being about as extreme as he can. He is telling us to fix our eyes on him foremost. Kinship in Jesus’ family takes priority, even over one’s family of birth or marriage: Persevere; run the race with courage; rid ourselves of anything that pulls us away from the Lord of lords and the King of kings.

Jesus is serious about commitment. He models the way. In the Gospel of Luke, he is about to turn toward Jerusalem, that place of passion and death, a baptism of anguish into which he is about to be plunged.

He probably didn’t like it much either. But he did it anyway.

Consider/Discuss

Jesus talks about setting “the earth on fire.” When his followers were filled with the Holy Spirit, their fiery passion became one of the hallmarks of the early church. Their fervor attracted others. Like the prophet Jeremiah in the first reading, they gave all they had, even to the point of losing everything. They were willing to die for Jesus. When have you experienced that fire of faith in yourself or others?
The Letter to the Hebrews calls Jesus “the leader and perfecter of faith” who endured the cross so that we would “not grow weary and lose heart.” On this day, what can you and I do to offer to God that same commitment that Jesus gave on our behalf?

Living and Praying with the Word

Lord Jesus, you do not call us to a wimpy discipleship. You ask us to give our all. On this day in the middle of August, in the heat of summer, we might be tempted to avoid anything that feels like fire. But your fire purifies us. Your fire ignites us. Your fire inspires us. Burn like a flame within us so that we pass your passionate love and joy to others. You gave your all. Help us to do the same.

Dec 11 2024

Scripture Study for

Today’s passage from Jeremiah recounts the prophet’s experience not long before the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon. Already that empire had conquered Judah and placed Zedekiah, a client Davidic king, on the throne. But that king was also rebellious and attempted to shake off the Babylonian yoke. Jeremiah warned the king and others that they should submit to Babylon, who was God’s instrument of judgment, and to expect even worse from Babylon if they did not (38:2–3). This is the “demoralizing” of which he was accused. Zedekiah shows himself to be morally weak, unable to stand up to the princes, first turning the prophet over to them and then secretly helping him. This weakness will eventually lead to Zedekiah’s—and Jerusalem’s—downfall.

Having delineated how Israel’s ancestors lived and died with faith (trust) in God’s promises (11:1–38), the author of Hebrews now comes back to his audience, who are surrounded by the cloud of witnesses to God’s fidelity and trustworthiness. If we are able to place our confidence in God on the basis of their witness (“evidence of things not seen” [11:1]), we will be able to persevere in our struggle against sin. Jesus, of course, is the premier exemplar of faith in God, which allowed him to face the cross. His faith was vindicated in his resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God. Christians should look not only to the ancestors but especially to Christ, and struggle mightily, even to the point (literally or metaphorically) of shedding their own blood—as Christ did—with faith in God.

The Gospel reading points once again to the radical nature of Christian discipleship and the demands of living the gospel. Jesus has come to announce the earth-shattering news that God is bringing divine sovereign power to bear on the world to destroy all that harms creation. The human responses must be, in the first place, repentance and turning back to God to receive the gift of the kingdom. The fire is both the proclamation of the kingdom and the purifying fire of repentance (Luke 3:16–18). Although the message is Good News, it is not “peaceful” in the sense of leaving things undisturbed, nor does it present a sentimental, “nice” notion of God, nor does it require nothing of those who accept. Consequently, it will be accepted by some and rejected by others, causing division within families and society. This is the nature of a purifying fire.