Reflection for the 25th Ordinary Sunday 2024

But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to question Him.

For seven Sundays this summer we journeyed with Jesus and His apostles coming to understand that we receive Him. For the rest of Ordinary Time and the special Solemnities of our Church, Jesus discusses applying His presence within us. How do we do it?

Jesus and the apostles are back in Capernaum. They had been journeying again, keeping it on the downlow because Jesus had things He needed to tell His closest collaborators. For the second time He discusses His ultimate sacrifice. He also lets them know that His sacrifice will not be an ending, but rather the start of a new life for His mortal body and ours.

The gospel tells us that they didn’t get it. The gospel then goes on to insinuate why that might have been: they weren’t paying attention. They were distracted by their self-centered desires.

It couldn’t be any more ironic. Jesus speaks of total self-giving as they talk about self above all else.

Throughout scripture God calls us to look, act, and exist differently. Jesus takes up the child, not so much as a cutesy and sweet moment as some portray in art, but to drive home a point.

God called Israel, through the prophets, to a total change of heart. The Apostles call us to find strength in weakness. That’s the real point. To count ourselves least of all, as children were, to use care in not overvaluing ourselves, yet to be loved and counted as a blessing as children were.

St. James reminds the early Church (only about five to six years after Jesus’ Ascension) that our attitudes really count. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits.

This comprehensive way of living for the other is to reflect the Jesus within us best.

In Greek there are three words for power or authority. The first two are energy and dynamic. There is a power in energy, in strength, just as there is a power in being dynamic, in having the power to generate energy; but when the Gospels speak of Jesus as “having great power” and as having a power beyond that of other religious figures, they do not use the words energetic or dynamic. They use a third word, exousia, which can be rendered as vulnerability. Jesus’ real power was rooted in an authority from vulnerability based on His trust in the Father, powerless as His child.   

Jesus calls us to live His new life presence within us by a vulnerability that shows our complete trust in Him.

Reflection for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

chase the light

What does it mean
to recognize the light?

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing

St. John the Baptist was now in prison. Jesus, fulfilling the prophesy of Isaiah, withdraws to Capernaum by the Sea – the land of the gentiles. Isaiah says of the people there, symbolizing all the gentiles: the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light.

St. John Chrysostom points out two important facts – these facts of light and darkness are not the physical properties of light and darkness – but rather spiritual light and darkness. Further, the gentiles “sat in darkness.” In other words they didn’t “walk in darkness,” but sat – they were resigned to the fact that they had no hope of being saved. They had given up. They couldn’t even put a step forward to walk because they did not know the way to go. They sat, overtaken by the darkness.

Jesus came to them to show them the light. He was the Light come into the world. From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

When Jesus began teaching in Capernaum, the crowds immediately recognized that there was something different about Him. It was the way He spoke. They were amazed because He taught them as one who had authority. They recognized the fact that He could open their eyes and their hearts to all God wanted of them. He was the one who could pull them out of darkness and into the light. He was the One who could pull them up from their sitting in darkness. Now they could walk in the light. And walk they did, the crowds grew and grew as they followed Him. They were filled with joy for being saved.

In the waters of regeneration we received the Light of the world. We were pulled up into the light so that we would never have to sit in darkness despairing that there is nothing for us but death. We accepted Him and were received into life everlasting. As we grew and studied we learned more about Him. While we may have fallen at times, we have listened to His call, have repented, and have come back to Him. We have, as we look at the trajectory of our lives, remained faithful to the Light we recognized and received into ourselves.

Recognizing the Light is exactly that – seeing that there is more to life than the place we sit. We acknowledge that there is only one way to go, one way to walk. That way is to grasp the hand of the One who speaks with authority, to stand and walk with Jesus, God who came to earth to pull us up on our feet and who shows us the way we must go each day.