8th Sunday in Ordinary Time A
February 27, 2011
Reading I: Isaiah 49:14-15
Responsorial Psalm: 62:2-3, 6-7, 8-9
Reading II: 1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Gospel: Matthew 6:24-34
Link to the Readings
February 27, 2011
Reading I: Isaiah 49:14-15
Responsorial Psalm: 62:2-3, 6-7, 8-9
Reading II: 1 Corinthians 4:1-5
Gospel: Matthew 6:24-34
Link to the Readings
The title 'Weekly Wonderings' is not a misprint. It expresses the intention behind this series. To learn something as we listen to the readings we need our minds to be wondering, looking for answers that make sense to us. That’s what these ‘starters’ are about. They are not supposed to be sermons; they do not have to end on a positive note. They are supposed to stir up questions, even unsettling ones.
It’s hard to say anything about this bit of gospel today. The message is so obvious, and so impossible. I could mention that the injunction towards the end looks like another one-liner similar to last week’s: ' Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.' Can sound so easy, but there are questions. . .
Monday night we happened to watch on TV Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness, a comedy with a message that got under my skin and irritates. “Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t do something! Not even me,” the father (Smith) says to his 5-year-old son. In the great American dream you can do anything, you can achieve anything, you can be whatever you want to be. And the impression given is that we only have to believe that and it will be true. To me reality is otherwise.
We could read Jesus in the same way: “Don’t worry. God, your parent, looks after the birds: God will look after you.” Just don’t quote that line to anyone in Christchurch, N.Z., at the moment, or anyone whose house was swept off its foundations in the recent floods in Queensland, or turned to ash in Marysville, Vic., a couple of years back, or anyone whose child is ill...
Is Jesus merely telling us that in the existential angst of life we need to have God as our solid foundation? That is a valid message, always . Anxiety is increasing in spite of, or because of, our 'progress', especially in communication. Your flood is now my flood as I watch, in real time, your house being swept away. It could happen to anyone, anytime. Somewhere it’s happening now. (Strange: at the very time I was writing that line, the ground was shaking and people were being crushed in falling buildings in Christchurch .) Our God seems to have no care for anything, birds of the air, banana plantations, 4-year-old children held above the waters until the mother’s strength gives out and they are both taken by the flood. The mother killed in the ’quake with her infant, held safely in her arms, alive.
‘Don’t worry?’
Yet surely these are words of comfort, intended to carry a message of love that should engender trust. It is not fair to the text to be too cynical. On this occasion we need the first reading to see the full dimension of these words:
In humankind's long journey from terror to love, from slaughtering animals in order to placate angry gods to trusting God as one trusts a loving parent, this statement in Isaiah echoed in the words of Jesus represents a very significant turning point. Look at the birds of the air... the grass of the field - they have such short lives, they seem so insignificant. No matter what happens, even the worst, will not your loving parent provide for you, O you of little faith?
We could also share our experiences of being saved from something. In a time of great loss some have found strength at that moment in the swirling flood when their feet touched something solid, and that solid rock turned out to be God. Perhaps they simply realised there is another dimension and what they have lost is not everything. Maybe it even felt like the care of a loving parent.
As we puzzle over the words that Jesus spoke on a sunny hillside in Galilee, an echo from the future, like a rumble of threatening thunder, troubles our hearing: 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'
Various people consider that going to the great Eastern Traditions can give new insights into the gospel of Christ. Is this an example of something the Zen tradition could throw light on? I hope someone will respond to this.
A final word: In looking up the texts I have found that, on account of variations among ancient manuscripts, we could read that key line this way: Go for honesty first and make it your rule; all the rest will follow. That inversion makes the problematic ‘kingdom of God’ equal to righteousness, which I would translate as integrity - honesty in thought and word and action. Or some would say: Truthfulness in everything. When you’re crushed by falling rubble, what else matters?
It’s hard to say anything about this bit of gospel today. The message is so obvious, and so impossible. I could mention that the injunction towards the end looks like another one-liner similar to last week’s: ' Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides.' Can sound so easy, but there are questions. . .
Monday night we happened to watch on TV Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness, a comedy with a message that got under my skin and irritates. “Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t do something! Not even me,” the father (Smith) says to his 5-year-old son. In the great American dream you can do anything, you can achieve anything, you can be whatever you want to be. And the impression given is that we only have to believe that and it will be true. To me reality is otherwise.
We could read Jesus in the same way: “Don’t worry. God, your parent, looks after the birds: God will look after you.” Just don’t quote that line to anyone in Christchurch, N.Z., at the moment, or anyone whose house was swept off its foundations in the recent floods in Queensland, or turned to ash in Marysville, Vic., a couple of years back, or anyone whose child is ill...
Is Jesus merely telling us that in the existential angst of life we need to have God as our solid foundation? That is a valid message, always . Anxiety is increasing in spite of, or because of, our 'progress', especially in communication. Your flood is now my flood as I watch, in real time, your house being swept away. It could happen to anyone, anytime. Somewhere it’s happening now. (Strange: at the very time I was writing that line, the ground was shaking and people were being crushed in falling buildings in Christchurch .) Our God seems to have no care for anything, birds of the air, banana plantations, 4-year-old children held above the waters until the mother’s strength gives out and they are both taken by the flood. The mother killed in the ’quake with her infant, held safely in her arms, alive.
‘Don’t worry?’
Yet surely these are words of comfort, intended to carry a message of love that should engender trust. It is not fair to the text to be too cynical. On this occasion we need the first reading to see the full dimension of these words:
'Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
Even should she forget, I will never forget you.'
In humankind's long journey from terror to love, from slaughtering animals in order to placate angry gods to trusting God as one trusts a loving parent, this statement in Isaiah echoed in the words of Jesus represents a very significant turning point. Look at the birds of the air... the grass of the field - they have such short lives, they seem so insignificant. No matter what happens, even the worst, will not your loving parent provide for you, O you of little faith?
We could also share our experiences of being saved from something. In a time of great loss some have found strength at that moment in the swirling flood when their feet touched something solid, and that solid rock turned out to be God. Perhaps they simply realised there is another dimension and what they have lost is not everything. Maybe it even felt like the care of a loving parent.
As we puzzle over the words that Jesus spoke on a sunny hillside in Galilee, an echo from the future, like a rumble of threatening thunder, troubles our hearing: 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'
Various people consider that going to the great Eastern Traditions can give new insights into the gospel of Christ. Is this an example of something the Zen tradition could throw light on? I hope someone will respond to this.
A final word: In looking up the texts I have found that, on account of variations among ancient manuscripts, we could read that key line this way: Go for honesty first and make it your rule; all the rest will follow. That inversion makes the problematic ‘kingdom of God’ equal to righteousness, which I would translate as integrity - honesty in thought and word and action. Or some would say: Truthfulness in everything. When you’re crushed by falling rubble, what else matters?