Gospel Reflection For Sunday 15th October 2023

28th Sunday Ordinary Time – by Fr Brian Maher OMI

INTRODUCTION TO THIS WEEK’S GOSPEL REFLECTION

It is not possible, I think, to begin a reflection on a Gospel about the coming of the ‘Kingdom of God’ without acknowledging the intense suffering and the terrible tragedy presently afflicting God’s own people of Israel and the Palestinian people who have long shared that land.

I can think only of the suffering I see on both sides – the young Israeli people joyfully and innocently attending a music festival and the woman and children brutally killed in Palestinian villages a little later. I can only feel intense grief and sadness that all of this blood is being shed on the very roads and trails walked by Jesus. The true values of the Bible, the Koran and the Gospels have no part in this suffering.
When Jesus looked over his beloved Jerusalem he wept for the coming suffering that would destroy his city. He wept for all mankind and for all who fall to violence and war in the world. I feel sure that today Jesus weeps again as he looks over Israel and Gaza.

We too must weep for innocent lives lost, for human rights trod upon by both sides, for ideologies born in blood and greed, for hostages and their families held unjustly as pawns in a game they never joined and for those individuals and groups who continue to work and die to encourage peace.
We must also pray for the political and military leaders on both side of the conflict. We pray that the voices of terrorised and suffering children may reach them and that the blood of the innocent may touch their hearts.

The Kingdom Jesus came to bring us was one based on forgiveness and tolerance. The Gospels we have heard and read over the past weeks show us a God of infinite forgiveness, generosity beyond our imagining, and acceptance of all people.
How terribly sad that even as we read the qualities of God’s Kingdom, we see them trampled upon and ignored by both sides in this conflict.
Today in our Gospel we see that God’s Kingdom is for all peoples; that none are excluded or denied entry. Today we see that self-righteousness, hypocrisy and complacency have no place in God’s Kingdom.
This is a conflict that goes back to the time of Moses. It is a conflict which is politically and culturally complex and affects many peoples and Nations. Probably nobody fully understands what is happening or why. But God understands and God’s constant and only wish is for our happiness.

We weep with Jesus for those who are suffering or have died. We trust in the truth of the Gospels we read each week. We pray that sane voices and wise hearts will prevail and that peace, with justice for both sides, will come from this pain.

Join me in reflecting on today’s Gospel.

Many thanks,

Brian.

Gospel Reflection for Sunday October 15th 2023 | 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

No matter how we look at the Gospels we cannot avoid coming to the conclusion that “the Kingdom of God” was central to how Jesus saw his mission on earth. It is also clear from the Gospels that his understanding of the Kingdom and his part in bringing it about developed over time. He moves from the simple, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is close at hand.” at his baptism, to “…Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” – a statement that seems to identify himself with a new and internal Kingdom of God.

Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to have been there with him to see these developments as they happened?

Of course, thinking like that is a little bit naïve. Real life plods along from one event to another, often with no time to reflect at all. Being there with Jesus, one week led to another, one argument with the Pharisees led to another, one village led to another and the pressures of daily life – food, shelter, safety, travel, tiredness – took immediate priority most of the time.

The Gospels themselves are clear that the apostles, those closest to Jesus, had no real idea what he meant by “the Kingdom of God” and often misunderstood him. The statement of Thomas towards the end of Jesus’ life sums it up rather well: “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

Indeed, even if we were there, how can we be sure that we would have recognised him, let alone followed him? Most of the sincere, good-living Jews of his day saw him more as a curiosity than anything else. Some wrote him off as an opportunist, using Roman occupation to create a Kingdom for himself. Others rejected him completely as too ‘liberal’, picking and choosing the laws that suited him and rejecting the rest, while the Pharisees and those in power considered him a danger to the Jewish faith and way of life. We – I – might have fallen into any of these categories and totally missed the message of hope and joy he brought us. Now, how tragic that would have been!

On the one hand I imagine the awesomeness of being there, listening to him speak, watching him heal, day after day. But on the other hand, I fear that I might not have had the openness, freedom of mind, and courage to recognise and commit to following him. What a dilemma!

Perhaps the truth is that we are born when we are born, and we face the challenges, doubts, worries and fears of our time just as Jesus and his followers faced them in his time. We have the advantage of two thousand years of reflection, scholarship and spirituality to help us see more clearly what he meant by the “Kingdom of God”, but we have the disadvantage of being two thousand years removed from his life, where his message can now seem stale and out of date. Where he faced anger, we face apathy. Where his immediate followers faced persecution, most of us (not all, I hasten to add) face dismissal as irrelevant. Each brings its own unique challenges. Each calls on us to ‘take up our cross daily’ and follow him. Each pits us against the false values of a secular world, be it Roman or democratic, communist or theocratic.

Above all, I think, each calls us to see hypocrisy for what it is – empty posturing for self-gain, false superiority and dishonesty in our dealings with others.

Jesus refused to be fooled by the insincerity of the religious and political leaders of his time. He challenged, without ever sounding like them, the falseness of their statements. He declared, without compromise but in a gentle and humble way, the truth of his message and the final dawning of God’s Kingdom.

Our call is just the same: to see hypocrisy for what it is; to refuse to be fooled by insincerity; to challenge falseness where we see it; to declare, without compromise, the Good News of the Gospels and the arrival of the “Kingdom of God”; and to do all of this gently and with humility.

If anyone reading this and looking at the values of our present world believes it is any easier than it was in Jesus’ day, then I suggest they look again.

Over the past several weeks each Gospel we read openly began with Jesus declaring, “…the Kingdom of God may be compared to….” and he went on to show us, through simple, clear parables or stories, what this Kingdom calls for:

He spoke of a God who is infinitely forgiving, and who calls us to be forgiving too.

He spoke of a God whose generosity is beyond anything we can imagine, and he warned us not to be shocked by the depth of that generosity. God does not think as we do, nor does we judge others as we judge them. He is infinitely, shockingly, more generous than that.

He spoke of a Kingdom which is for everyone – rich and poor, good and bad, and warned us not to judge by our standards those who can be part of that Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is for those who work for it, and he warns that we may be surprised when we see who these people are.

He spoke of a Kingdom which is coming into our world, not a Kingdom far away that we can gain by minding our own business and saying our prayers.

And today he tells us that the Kingdom of God is for everyone, with no exceptions. We do not, no matter who we are or what we do, have a ‘right’ to the Kingdom of God. Self-righteousness, self-importance will not gain us entry to the Kingdom. God’s Kingdom is for all who gently, humbly and sincerely work for it. Today, the longer version of the Gospel warns us that we must not take the Kingdom of God for granted. We must ‘dress’ for it, treating it with the wonder and and awesomeness it deserves. After all it is God’s Kingdom and we, thanks to God’s love and generosity are invited to be its guests.

Yes, I would love to have been able to walk the roads and trails of Galilee with Jesus, hearing him talk of the Kingdom of God, and watching what it means to be part of that Kingdom. But these last few weeks I have come to realise the the call of Jesus and his invitation to join him in making this ‘Kingdom come’ among us, is just as real and urgent today as it was then.

The challenges that Jesus faced in his world are no different to the challenges we face in our world. The call of Jesus to “follow me” is just as real and just as urgent today as it was when he called Peter, James and John to leave their nets and join him.

Jesus and his first followers lived in their time and faced the challenges of that time. We live in our time and just like Jesus we must face the challenges of our times. Only by doing so can Jesus’ great prayer, “thy Kingdom come…on earth as it is in Heaven”, be realised.

Jesus, in his stories and parables showed us very clearly the values of the Kingdom. He also showed us what to avoid. Hypocrisy, self-righteousness, dishonesty have no place in God’s Kingdom, and we must challenge them when and where we see them.

Just as Jesus was with his disciples so he is with us – in the Gospels, in prayer, in the Eucharist, and in our fellow Christians, those who walk the roads and pathways of our world with us.

All are invited to be part of God’s Kingdom, all are invited to the great wedding feast which is the Kingdom of God.

Many thanks.

Brian.

If you have any comments, questions or thoughts on this scripture reflection, please feel welcome to email me at b.maher@oblates.ie

Invite everyone you can to the wedding