32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time: God Asks Only One Thing of Us

The reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, our Second Reading for this Sunday, continues the reflection on the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. To understand the crucifixion more fully, we need to look back deep into Israelite history. The patriarchs of Israel moved to the land of Egypt, where the Israelites became a large and prosperous ethnic group. However, the Egyptian Pharaoh became jealous of their success and decided to enslave them. He then sought to destroy the Israelites by having every male child killed right after birth.

In response to their suffering, God sent Moses to free the Israelites form bondage. Moses sought to prevail upon Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, but Pharaoh would not listen. As a result, God performed 10 signs, also known as the 10 plagues, through Moses in order to persuade Pharaoh to set the captives free. The last of the signs was the angel of death flying over Egypt and striking down the firstborn male in every household. The Israelites themselves could avoid this punishment by each family gathering together to sacrifice and eat a lamb and marking their doorframes with the lamb’s blood. When the angel of death would see the blood upon the doorframe, it would pass over the house without causing harm.

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31st Sunday in Ordinary Time: Loving with God's Love

The scribe's question in this Sunday's Gospel passage may seem like a simple theological inquiry, but if we consider the larger context of the Gospel narrative, we can see that the scribe was trying to set a trap against Jesus. The passage takes place in Jerusalem, where many Jewish people have gathered for the Passover, the greatest feast of Judaism, celebrating the liberation of the Israelites from captivity in Egypt. However, the celebration is bittersweet, because by the time of Jesus, the Jewish people had been living under foreign occupation for hundreds of years. Just imagine a scenario where the United States has been conquered by a hostile country. What would it be like to celebrate the 4th of July while enemy tanks are patrolling the streets?

The celebration of the Passover was a highly charged time in Jerusalem, with the possibility of an uprising breaking out in order to overthrow the Romans, the current occupiers of the Holy Land. The atmosphere was especially tense at the time of Jesus because the prophecies of The Book of Daniel pointed to what we now call the first century AD as the time when the Messiah would arrive. The assumption was that the Messiah would be a military king who would defeat the Romans with divine help. As the city was preparing for the Passover, the celebration of the liberation of the Israelites, even small disturbances would have been enough for the crowds to rise up against their oppressors.

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30th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Leaving Everything Behind

In biblical times, healing was a sign of the coming of the Messiah. In The Book of Isaiah, we read: "Say to the fearful of heart: Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; With divine recompense he comes to save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall see, and the ears of the deaf be opened; Then the lame shall leap like a stag, and the mute tongue sing for joy" (Isaiah 35:4-6). All four Gospels relate many miraculous healings performed by Jesus in fulfillment of this prophecy. One of those instances is the curing of the blind man in this Sunday's Gospel passage.

As the passage begins, Jesus is on his way from Jericho to Jerusalem. Today, a modern highway connects the two cities. In biblical times, the road was much less developed, but it was already a major thoroughfare, and one which had a bad reputation. The parable of the Good Samaritan also takes place along this road, highlighting the dangers of being alone in this area. But the blind man sits at the side of this dangerous road, begging. On the one hand, the busyness of the road can help him get more money from generous travelers. On the other hand, the roughness of the area puts him at risk of being robbed of whatever he is able to collect from benefactors. When Jesus passes by, he takes a leap of faith.

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29th Sunday in Ordinary Time: What Is the Role of the Messiah?

The request that the sons of Zebedee make of Jesus in today's Gospel passage is shaped by the long history of ancient Israel and the contemporary understanding of the role of the Messiah. The Israelite monarchy was established by Saul in the 11th century B.C. His successor, David, expanded the territory of the kingdom, making Jerusalem the capital. The glory days of the monarchy came during the reign of his son Solomon, who transformed the kingdom into a small empire, with even more expanded borders. But right after Solomon the land was split in two, the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south. In time, both areas were overrun by conquerors, and the Israelites came to live under the oppression of a series of foreign occupies - the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greens, and the Romans, the last of whom held sway at the time of Jesus.

In the midst of their oppression, the Israelites received prophecies that God would send a Messiah who would liberate them. Their understanding of the coming of the Messiah was that he would be a military conqueror who would overthrown the occupiers and would rebuild the great kingdom of the past, making it even more glorious. That is how the disciples also saw Jesus, as the king who would usher in the new golden age. Hence the request of the sons of Zebedee. Their hope was that once Jesus became the king of the new monarchy, they could be the top officials in his court, enjoying all the power, wealth, and glory that would come with such positions.

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28th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Christianity and Wealth

The Gospel passage for this Sunday includes a very famous line: "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God" (Mark 10:25). Our initial thought might be to think of a sewing needle and try to imagine a camel squeezing through that tiny hole, which would clearly imply that a wealthy person has no chance of entering the Kingdom of God. But in the culture of Jesus, the phrase "eye of a needle" had another meaning too. The phrase was used to describe a small door that opened in one of the large panes of a grand gate, like a city gate. Such gates would be opened in the morning and would stay open for the day to allow for the daily coming and going of the inhabitants and visitors. Then in the evening, the gates would be closed and locked for the night.

But the small door called the eye of a needle could still be opened as needed during the night hours, which kept the city safer than having to open up the gates after sundown. The eye of a needle door was narrow and short so as to make it easier to defend in case of an attack. Since camels tend to be taller than grown adults and would typically be carrying packages too, getting a camel through the eye of a needle was quite a task. The packages would need to be removed and the camel would need to almost crawl in order to pass. While having a camel enter this way was not easy, it was not impossible either. Returning to the Gospel passage for this Sunday, according to the analogy Jesus uses, entering the Kingdom of Heaven would not be impossible for a rich person, but it would certainly be tough. Only with God's grace would it be possible.

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27th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Marriage Is the Height of God’s Creative Work on Earth

The Bible starts with two accounts of the creation of the world by God. The first one (Genesis 1:1-2:3) details the order in which God created the world and life on earth. At each stage, the narrator tells us that God looked at his work and saw that it was good. The final stage is the creation of human beings: "God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them" (Genesis 1:27). God then blesses humankind, tells them to multiply and fill the earth, and gives them dominion over the rest of creation. After the creation of human beings, God looks at his work and considers it very good. Up until now, everything was called good, but now that human beings have been created, creation is described as very good. Humanity is shown to be the pinnacle of God's creative work, the height of the order of creation on the earth.

The second account of the creation of the world (Genesis 2:4-25) focuses on the nature of humanity. We see from the account that neither man nor woman is whole independently on a natural level, but that they are meant to complement each other and form one whole through the union of marriage. In the Gospel passage for this Sunday, Jesus states: "from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh" (Mark 10:6-8). The first account of creation shows that human beings are the greatest of God's creative work on earth. The second account shows that our nature is designed for man and woman to complete each other on a natural level through marriage. Thus, taken together, the two accounts of creation that open the Bible tell us that the marriage of man and woman is the height of the natural order God created in our world.

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26th Sunday in Ordinary Time: You Can’t Take It With You

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus often engages in a verbal technique called hyperbole, the use of deliberate exaggeration to make a point. In contemporary American culture, hyperbole tends to be used by teens and young adults, but not so much by older generations. But in some other cultures, hyperbole is very much a part of daily interaction.

Such was the case in the culture of Jesus, and we must account for his use of hyperbole when we seek to interpret his words. When Jesus tells us to cut off our foot or hand or pluck out our eye if each leads us to sin, he is clearly making use of hyperbole. However, we should not take his words lightly because he is exaggerating. Jesus is highlighting a central aspect of our faith, that God must be central in our lives.

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