Reflection for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023

“Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Welcome as we continue our journey of study and re-commit ourselves to the work of following, witnessing to, and sharing Jesus.

What have we been focused on for so many weeks? It is simply this, living God’s great generosity. Jesus taught us to live this way and calls us to accept responsibility for generosity and follow through.

Last Sunday the message shifted to reflection; how well we are living up to Jesus’ call. We were asked to stop and think and figure out the gaps. Where have we lost sight of our responsibility?

It is an important reflection to undertake especially as we approach the end of the Church year and face up to consequences, Jesus’ return.

Jesus’s parable today is about those consequences. Fail to live the gospel life, think things are just good enough, neglect the practice of persistent generosity, reject the notion of turning, what the Greek’s called metanoia, a deep inner affect wherein one is spiritually converted, and we find ourselves locked out.

Today’s words of accountability are hard to hear for many in the world where the way always seems easy, broad, and well paved. For many, the notions of preparation, responsibility, and consequences no longer bear any significance. 

Don’t study or do well on your tests, pass anyway. Neglect kindness and generosity and replace it with cruelty, bullying, and meanness and you’re a hero. Hate and you have a huge following. Exploit your body and God’s way of love and you have fans. This and so many other ways the world closes one off from any accountability.

Consider this, groups, and organizations as diverse as CAP, Scouting, 4H, FFA, and organizations like our YMSofR and ANS, as well as Church itself all have trouble attracting members because members have to agree to accountability. One must accept responsibility for doing something.

God paints a vision for us. Accept wisdom – meaning understanding and acceptance of what God wants and be blessed. Wisdom tells us that there will be accountability for the way we live. The psalmist tells us that hungering for God’s way brings great favor.

Let us then be wise and stay awake, preparing with responsibility and accepting God’s way to accountability.

Ash Wednesday 2021

as the hypocrites do, like the hypocrites.

Nobody likes hypocrites, and not to put too fine a point on it, Jesus in particular called out the sin of hypocrisy in others. No sin was as sternly denounced by Jesus.

In Hebrew, the term actually meant ‘godless.’ To be a hypocrite was to be without God, that is to be dishonest/untruthful. In Greek, hypocrisy meant play acting at religious observance. The exterior of the person did not reflect their interior. To be a hypocrite was to be all show, no go.

In Luke 12:1-2, Jesus warned his disciples against following the practices of Pharisees who engaged in hypocrisy.

Meanwhile, the crowds grew until thousands were milling about and stepping on each other. Jesus turned first to his disciples and warned them, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees—their hypocrisy. The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all.

The bottom line on hypocrisy is that it is not a determination pointing to a person being intrinsically evil, but rather that they have either:

  • Failed to realize the nature of God’s call, or  
  • Are failing to properly live out the call they have.  

Religious hypocrites don’t really get it and make a mistake by interpreting their actions as true religion versus having a complete metanoia – a complete change in one’s life, from heart to mind, soul, spirit, and outward; all coming from spiritual conversion.

Some practical examples as Jesus points out today: Fasting and appearing as if one is suffering. Why not bother if it is just for show? Giving to be seen as giving. Why bother if it is just play acting? Why pray if it is only to hear oneself mumbling words made meaningless because they are not meant?

Jesus’ points about already being repaid pales in comparison to His warning from Luke 12 – if you are only doing it for show, unthinking, without inner change, play acting – everybody is going to find out, it will be revealed, you won’t be able to keep it a secret.

Lent calls us to change, to a genuine metanoia. The Lenten call presupposes the fact that we are all play acting at different levels. Perhaps it is because we lack a complete understanding of what God is calling us to. Perhaps our religious practice has become habit rather that challenge. Perhaps we are doing things because mom or dad said so. Maybe, just maybe, we are comfortable and just do not want to change.

Now is the time to have our hearts convicted, to convert and to change. We are called to rend our hearts, to break our hearts for failures and to learn a lesson from that heartbreak – a lesson that pushes us to be genuine, to live God’s call fully and completely, to be changed throughout.

St. Paul nails it: do not receive the grace of God in vain. Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We have to work at truly being God’s vision of us this very minute, now, and stop any play acting we are doing. God’s grace stands ready to get us there – we must not take that opportunity in vain.

Why we do what we do is key to right perspective and true religion, to ending hypocrisy. This is what we will focus on throughout the Lenten journey we are sharing together. Understanding gained in this process and study will help us to reset our lives, right set our expectations, and get to the metanoia that will bring us to being genuine (not hypocritic) bearers and livers of Jesus’s gospel.