Sunday of the 23rd Week of Ordinary Time - Ez. 33:7-9, Rom. 13:8-10 & Mt. 18:15-20

It is made clear to Ezekiel in our First Reading that the role of the prophet is to be asentry: someone on duty on the city walls to warn the populace that an invader is onhis way. It is a role that brings great responsibility with it. A sentry who sees aninvader approaching and fails to warn others is derelict in his duty and will bepunished for it. However, if the warning is given and people do not respond, then hehas fulfilled his duties and is not responsible for any consequences. The call toprophetic witness belongs not just in the past, in Old Testament times. It is stillpresent today as a call to all who profess to follow in Jesus’ footsteps. Today’s short extract from the Letter to the Romans comes after a passage in whichSt Paul calls on the people to obey the civil authorities, whose authority come fromGod. This is an astonishing statement, given that the authorities in question are theofficials of the Roman Empire! At this point in the development of the early churchpeople were feeling their way in regard to attitudes to secular law. Paul is writing topeople in Rome many years before the Emperor Nero’s persecution of thecommunity. In today’s Reading Paul is laying some ground rules for the goodfunctioning of any society – religious or secular. Paramount in both is having areasonable basis for mutual relationships between people. Chapter 18 of St Matthew’s Gospel is a fourth discourse (address) given by Jesus to agroup of people. In this case it is to the disciples and it is concerned withrelationships within the future community of the church. The word “ekklesia”, fromwhich we derive words like “ecclesiastical” and can be translated as “church”, is givenhere as “community”. Jesus has just given them the parable of the Lost Sheep in

Reflections for Week 23 of Ordinary Time 2020

which the shepherd leaves theninety-nine on the hillside tosearch for the one that was lost.Fundamental to all of this isJesus’ promise that, “Where twoor three are gathered in myname, I shall be there withthem.”  “Emmanuel” – “God-with-us”, a key idea in Matthew’sGospel from beginning to end –is always present to help andguide those open to thatpresence.

Monday of the 23rd Week of Ordinary Time - 1 Cor. 5:1-8 & Lk. 6:6-11.

St Paul comes to the nub of his problems with the community in Corinth: a case ofincest. This is so scandalous that he is almost speechless that such a thing could betaking place in a community of the followers of Jesus. His condemnation is swift andabsolute. Getting rid of the “old yeast”, of previous behaviours and attitudes, is a mustif the community is to celebrate Christ’s sacrifice worthily. It becomes clear from today’s Gospel that Jesus’ problems with the Pharisees beganalmost immediately he embarked on his public ministry. The key sentence here refersto the fact that they “were watching him to see if he would cure a man on the sabbath,hoping to find something to use against him.” It speaks of an appalling mind-set thatis unwilling, or unable, to see the good and only looks for the negative. Jesus’ own wayis quite the opposite. Tuesday of the 23rd Week of Ordinary Time - (8th September - Feast of the Birthdayof Our Lady) Rom. 8:28-30 & Mt. 1:1-16 & 18-23

Choice is a key theme of both our Readings on this feast day. Mary is chosen to be themother of Jesus and from the very beginning she is a model of the fact that, “Godcooperates with all those who love him, with all those that he has called according tohis purpose.” On 8th December we celebrate the Immaculate Conception, our beliefthat by God’s singular providence Mary was free from sin from the beginning. Today,nine months later, we welcome her birth. 

 

Some celebrants will choose to render thewhole of this Gospel Reading, some willchoose the shorter version that gives onlythe closing verses. The tongue-twister thatis the Genealogy of Jesus refers to someremarkable women amongst the list ofJesus’ male ancestors. “Here is everyone”might be a suitable title for this passage:Patriarchs, Kings, unknowns, saints andsinners (with the women mentioned beinggood exemplars of this). Whichever versionis chosen the unique circumstancesof Jesus’ birth are made clear. She is to givebirth to a son who is to be called “God-is-with-us”. 

Wednesday of the 23rd Week of Ordinary Time - 1 Cor. 7:25-31 & Lk. 6:20-26

St Paul’s words about celibacy need to be read in context. Remember he hasuncovered a horrendous case of incest within the community and has been writingabout other aspects of sexual relations in the preceding verses. As is also clear fromthe second paragraph of this Reading, there was a strong expectation still aroundthat “our time is growing short”. In other words, Jesus’ coming at the end of time wasimminent, although no-one knew the precise date when this would happen. In thelight of all of this he suggests that people should remain as they are, in theirrelationships, but not to engage in new ones if that is possible. Where St Matthew has a “Sermon on the Mount”, here St Luke begins his “Sermon onthe Plain”, and whereas Matthew has eight beatitudes, Luke has four beatitudes andfour woes! Some scholars think that St Luke was writing for a rather affluentcommunity, hence his reference to “the poor” rather than “the poor in spirit”, as wellas his woe directed towards “you who are rich”. In any case, whatever, their originsthey are to be read as an invitation to look into our own lives, our own way ofresponding to Jesus’ call to discipleship. Thursday of the 23rd Week of Ordinary Time - 1 Cor. 8:1-7, 11-13 & Lk. 6:27-38

In the context of giving example to others Paul champions love over knowledge. Inthe market meat which had been laid at a pagan altar as part of a sacrifice wascheaper, and therefore more affordable for poorer people. Remember the settinghere is Southern Greece with its hot temperatures and no refrigeration, and imaginethe state of the old meat being sold there! Although there are really no other gods towhom sacrifice could truly be offered, and many members of the community werewell aware of this, some “weaker” members were not so clued in and could bescandalised by the “wise” ones, as if they were condoning pagan sacrifices. Paul’soption in these circumstances is to go vegetarian! The high demands of the Gospel are laid out in blunt terms by Jesus in this part of his“Sermon on the Plain”. The disciple is to go further than any pagan in responding withlove to all who cross their path. St Luke offers a more nuanced command at this pointthan St Matthew in his version. Where Matthew has Jesus say to people, “Be perfecteven as your heavenly Father is perfect,” here St Luke renders the saying as, “Becompassionate as your Father is compassionate.” The Father’s perfection lies in hiscompassion!

Friday of the 23rd Week of Ordinary Time - 1 Cor. 9:16-19, 22-27 & Lk. 6:29-42

St Paul is still talking about the freedom of the Gospel in the context of showingexample to others (as in yesterday’s extract). There is a difference between freedomand licence, and he is willing to curb his own freedom in order to reach others withthe message of that Gospel. In talking to people in Corinth he uses the metaphor of agames meeting with which they would have been very familiar in that part of theworld. It was very much part of their culture. St Paul is giving us a very early exampleof “inculturation”: the preaching of the Gospel in terms that the recipients of themessage could understand. The sayings in today’s Gospel are a simple and strong reminder that the Gospelmessage is given to us as a mirror in which to judge our own lives, rather than thelives of others! Saturday of the 23rd Week of Ordinary Time - 1 Cor. 10:14-22 & Lk. 6:43-49

St Paul continues the theme of the rejection of idolatry but now adds a furtherdimension: the unity of the body of Christ. Pagan worship of idols is to be shunned atall costs because it is inimical to the worship of the God revealed in Christ Jesus. InChristian worship the one loaf that is used in the Eucharist is a symbol of the unity ofall in the one body of Christ. Today our Gospel is the concluding section of this “Sermon on the Plain” and it endsin much the same way as Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount”. The inner quality ofsomeone’ goodness is the only way to produce good fruit. It is from the heart thatgoodness, or badness flow. Goodness to put into practice what Jesus has beensaying, such is the foundation of rock that ensures the survival of any structure,including true discipleship.