Reflections on
Sunday Readings by Father Jeremy Corley
(of Portsmouth Diocese)
GOD’S LOVE AND OUR RESPONSE
NOTES ON THE SUNDAY READINGS FOR OCTOBER
By Father Jeremy Corley
God’s care for his people is described with the image of the
vineyard in the scriptures for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday of the
Year (5 October). Some of the hills near Jerusalem are covered
in vineyards, and so it was natural for Isaiah to use this image in
his preaching. God cared for Israel like a farmer caring for his
vineyard: planting the vines (establishing the Israelites in the
Holy Land), making a hedge (protecting them), and building a tower
(Jerusalem or the temple). Yet when this vineyard produced no fruit,
the owner felt like leaving it waste. Jesus uses the same image of
the vineyard to issue a warning to his hearers, but this time the
situation is worse. Now the vineyard tenants even kill the owner’s
son, sent to gather the harvest. Matthew’s parable ends with a
warning: “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a
people who will produce its fruit.” Matthew’s audience would have
understood the Gentile converts as being the new vineyard tenants.
But the gospel challenges us to reflect: how far do we produce the
fruits of holiness in our lives?
The readings for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday of the Year (12 October)
express God’s generosity in the image of the banquet. Isaiah speaks
of a banquet prepared for all nations, when God would destroy death
and wipe away the tears from every cheek. While this prophecy may
originally refer to the deliverance of Jerusalem in 701 BC (Isaiah
37), it has been understood to point forward to the banquet of
heaven. Likewise Jesus’ parable of the wedding feast perhaps
originally referred to the offer of salvation he was making to his
hearers in their lifetimes. But it has been understood to point
forward to the invitation to eternal life in heaven. The person
without a wedding garment is presumably someone who has failed to
prepare for this wedding feast. How actively do we prepare ourselves
for eternal life with the Lord?
No one likes to live under foreign domination, yet in the latter
centuries of the biblical period the Israelites were often ruled by
other nations. Sometimes the rulers were benevolent, like the
Persian king Cyrus the Great, mentioned in the first reading for the
Twenty-Ninth Sunday of the Year (19 October). God calls Cyrus his
“anointed” one, because he liberated the Israelites from their exile
in Babylon. God uses this Persian king, though he is a pagan. By
contrast with the benevolence of Cyrus, the Roman emperor Tiberius
in Jesus’ lifetime imposed much-resented taxation on the Holy Land.
So the Pharisees create a trap by their question: “Is it permissible
to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” If Jesus follows the Zealot view by
saying no, he will be accused of rebelling against Rome. But if he
says yes, he will be accused of colluding with the occupying powers.
Hence he replies in a way that could leave the decision open to the
hearer’s conscience: “Render to Caesar what belongs to Caesar—and to
God what belongs to God.” We can pray for wisdom to balance our
responsibilities to society and our responsibilities to God.
The call to love resounds in the readings for the Thirtieth Sunday
of the Year (26 October). Jesus is asked to select the greatest
command in the Torah. So he begins with the Jewish daily prayer
(called the Shema): “You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart.” Then he adds a saying buried in the Book of Leviticus: “You
shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Love begins with justice,
already expressed in the stipulations of the Book of Exodus: “You
must not molest the strangers or oppress them, for you lived as
strangers in the land of Egypt.” Care for the immigrant, the poor
and the needy are the beginnings of the way of love. We can ask God
to help us respond to this call to love.
SEPTEMBER 2008
OUR GOD IS RICH IN FORGIVING
NOTES ON THE SUNDAY READINGS FOR SEPTEMBER
By Father Jeremy Corley
Every family and community can find it hard to deal with problems
among its members. In the first reading on the Twenty-Third Sunday
of the Year (7 September), the prophet Ezekiel is given the role of
sentry. His job will be to warn the people when they are straying
into sin. But what should be done when sin occurs? The gospel
suggests a system similar to the one used by the Qumran community
that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls. If a brother sins, rebuke him
privately, but if he will not listen, bring witnesses along, so as
to avoid reporting it to the whole community. The aim is to lead the
brother to repentance. No system is painless when dealing with human
sin. Ultimately, the best teacher is good example. Hence St Paul
reminds us: “Love is the one thing that cannot hurt your neighbour.”
On 14 September, we celebrate the Feast of the Triumph of the
Cross. This feast originated as a celebration of the supposed relics
of the cross. By tradition these relics were found by St Helena,
mother of the Roman emperor Constantine, around the year 330, and
restored to Jerusalem by another emperor in 628. For us, the feast
provides an opportunity outside Lent to meditate on Christ’s death.
To explain the need for the cross, the early church turned to the
scriptural story of the bronze serpent on a wooden pole. Looking at
this serpent served as a cure for those Israelites bitten by
poisonous snakes in the desert. Somehow the cure had to be similar
to the cause of the disease. So too with Christ. According to this
ancient logic, the cure for our death (associated with human sin)
must involve a human death. Hence St John’s Gospel speaks
symbolically of the cross: “The Son of Man must be lifted up, as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so that everyone who
believes may have eternal life.”
God’s generosity is emphasized in the readings for the
Twenty-Fifth Sunday of the Year (21 September). The prophet Isaiah
urges the people to turn back to God who is rich in mercy. Our God
does not reckon by human standards: “My thoughts are not your
thoughts.” This amazing divine generosity is evident in Jesus’
parable of the labourers in the vineyard. The last arrival who has
worked one hour receives a denarius, and the others expect more, but
they get the same reward. By human standards this seems unjust, and
a modern employer would probably have a strike on his hands. But in
the story the master’s response is thought-provoking: “Why be
envious because I am generous?” We readily accept the blessings
given to us by God—can we accept the way that he also shows kindness
to others?
The readings for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday of the Year (28
September) speak of the grace of repentance. In the time of the
Babylonian exile, many Israelites were questioning God’s justice:
“Is it fair that he has brought this punishment on us?” But the
prophet Ezekiel urges the people to recognize that their ways are
unjust. All he wants is for them to repent and live: “When the
sinner renounces sin to become law-abiding and honest, he deserves
to live.” Six centuries later, when John the Baptist came preaching
repentance, the tax collectors and prostitutes responded by
repenting. Better to come late to do what you are asked, rather than
to make promises but do nothing. Whether or not we are late arrivals
into God’s kingdom, we can give thanks for the grace of repentance.
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AUGUST 2008
GOD’S MERCY TOWARDS US
NOTES ON THE SUNDAY READINGS FOR AUGUST
By Father Jeremy Corley
We celebrate God’s generous provision for us in the readings for
the Eighteenth Sunday of the Year (3 August). Already in the Book of
Isaiah, God invites us: “Oh, come to the water, all you who are
thirsty; though you have no money, come.” God is generous in
providing freely for our material needs, and also in giving us the
gift of faith. The disciples experienced this generosity, when Jesus
fed a crowd of five thousand people using just five loaves and two
fish. So often he also provides for our needs in ways beyond our
human imagination. Spiritually he nourishes us with the food of his
teaching, and sacramentally he feeds us in Holy Communion with the
bread of his Body. And so we can sing with the psalmist: “How good
is the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures.”
The readings for the Nineteenth Sunday of the Year (10 August)
show us that the Lord can sometimes come to us in unexpected ways.
After the prophet Elijah has triumphed over the false prophets on
Mount Carmel, he flees to Mount Horeb (Sinai). God appears, not in
the powerful wind or earthquake or fire, but in the sound of a
gentle breeze. Similarly, when the disciples face a storm on the Sea
of Galilee, Jesus appears to them, walking on the water and saying,
“Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid!” In our lives, the Lord
sometimes comes to us unexpectedly, in the stillness of our hearts
or with the reassurance of his presence in time of trouble. Like the
disciples in the boat, we bow down and say to our Lord: “Truly, you
are the Son of God.”
On the Feast of the Assumption (Friday 15 August), we celebrate
Our Lady, now united with God in heaven. In the reading from the
Apocalypse, the Church has understood the “woman adorned with the
sun” as a reference to the Virgin Mary, though in the context she
probably represents personified Israel. Mary’s humble acceptance of
God’s plan is clear from her song of praise (the Magnificat): “The
Almighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name.” The great
things God did for Mary include her motherhood of Jesus our Saviour,
and now her assumption into the glory of heaven. According to the
Preface of the Mass, she is “the beginning and the pattern of the
Church in its perfection, and a sign of hope and comfort for God’s
people on their pilgrim way.” Encouraged by Our Lady, may we too
seek to follow God’s way in our lives.
Hope for the outsider is evident in the readings for the
Twentieth Sunday of the Year (17 August). Whereas God’s original
call was addressed to the people of Israel, the Book of Isaiah
widens this invitation to include “foreigners who have attached
themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love his name and be his
servants.” During his time on earth, Jesus’ first mission was to the
“lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But while in foreign territory,
he was persuaded to heal the daughter of a non-Israelite woman. Such
incidents gave the early church confidence to proclaim Christ’s
message beyond the borders of Israel, and to invite all peoples to
believe in him. We can thank God for inviting us into his kingdom.
On the Twenty-First Sunday of the Year (24 August) we hear of
those commissioned to serve in God’s kingdom. The prophet Isaiah
announces the appointment of Shebna as prime minister to King
Hezekiah: “He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I
place the key of the house of David on his shoulder.” The gospel
presents the commissioning of St Peter as the rock on which Christ
builds his church. Because of his faith in our Lord, Peter is
entrusted with the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Later he will use
his power to officially welcome Gentiles into the church at the
Council of Jerusalem (AD 50). May we be faithful in fulfilling the
responsibilities entrusted to us.
The challenge of the gospel becomes evident in the readings for
the Twenty-Second Sunday of the Year (31 August). Six centuries
before Christ, the prophet Jeremiah had to suffer for his fidelity
to God: “The word of the Lord has meant for me insult and derision,
all day long.” For Christ himself, suffering was also involved,
since he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously
there. For us, too, it is necessary to take up our cross in order to
follow him. Our human nature shies away from the pain involved. May
the Lord give us the courage to follow him.
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JULY 2008
THE MYSTERIES OF GOD’S KINGDOM
NOTES ON THE SUNDAY READINGS FOR JULY
By Father Jeremy Corley
The gospel for the Fourteenth Sunday of the Year (6 July) offers
us the promise of rest from the burden of carrying the yoke. Almost
everywhere in today’s world, slavery has been abolished, yet
enslavement can continue in new forms. In our culture, sometimes it
is the self-inflicted slavery of a constant drive for success. In
other cases, people bear the yoke of responsibility for members of
their family and community. In the time of Jesus the yoke could mean
different things for his audience: the oppressive yoke of Roman rule
in Palestine, or the yoke of trying to fulfil the Law of Moses. But
there is another yoke that we are invited to take up: the service of
Jesus. If we aim to follow God’s will humbly, in the footsteps of
Christ, we are promised rest and peace for our souls.
The parable of the sower is told in the gospel for the Fifteenth
Sunday of the Year (13 July). Suitably for our age, when there is a
keen search for greater crop yields to feed the world’s population,
Jesus’ message uses agricultural imagery. The harvests depend to a
large extent on the quality of the soil. Pathways and rocky soil do
not allow the seed to take root. Weeds can choke the grain. Only a
rich soil will produce a good harvest. Many of Jesus’ first hearers
seemed not to be receptive to the seed of his message. How
attentively do we hear the gospel? To be sure (as Isaiah says),
God’s word does not return empty, but we need to pay attention to
it, if it is to bear fruit in our lives.
Three parables appear in the gospel for the Sixteenth Sunday of
the Year (20 July). Two short parables speak of the inevitable
growth of God’s kingdom. In Palestine the tiny mustard seed grows
into a big shrub, just as in our country a small acorn grows into a
large oak tree. A small amount of yeast is all that is needed to
make a lump of dough rise. Others might regard God’s kingdom as tiny
and insignificant, but through God’s grace it can grow. Yet the
third parable of the wheat and the darnel (weeds) reminds us of our
human responsibility. We cannot leave everything to God. We are
called to respond to the Lord in our own lives.
On the Seventeenth Sunday of the Year (27 July), we hear the last
three parables in the thirteenth chapter of St Matthew. Our age is
going through a financial crisis, with a renewed quest for funds.
People in Jesus’ time were no different, with many engaged in a
search for treasure in the ground or pearls in the ocean. One big
find would make a person secure for life. The reward of the gospel
is on a similar scale, says Jesus. But the parable of the dragnet
reminds us that it is not enough just to be caught in our Lord’s
net. At the end of time the good fish will be kept, but the bad fish
may be thrown away. We cannot presume on our salvation. Instead let
us seek to respond to our Saviour who has shown us his great love.
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