Sunday Gospel Reflection for 29th Sunday of the Year, October 16th Written by Fr Brian Maher OMI
INTRODUCTION:
The God of theology and philosophy is complex and complicated. Anyone who has ever had the opportunity to study them will know the hair pulling and desk thumping associated with every word, phrase, and concept explored.
Yet, somehow, behind the words and concepts, lies a reality which is stunningly simple; Love!
There are countless books written about ‘Parenting’, yet nobody has to tell a parent how to love their child. It comes from within and is profoundly simple and uncomplicated.
Likewise, there are countless books written about God, but if we openly read the Gospels and look at the life of Jesus, we find a simple truth; that God is love and nothing else.
Our Gospel today points us to this reality: If a corrupt and unjust judge can be moved to do what is right because of the persistent nagging of a poor widow, then just imagine what a generous and bountiful God will give us.
The logic of this Gospel is so simple and uncomplicated.
The conclusion is equally simple and uncomplicated – then why are you so fearful and anxious all the time? Where is your faith?
Perhaps the problem is that our understanding of God has become too complicated? Perhaps the simple truth that ‘God is Love’ has been lost in a myriad of rules and laws and obligations? If this happens, then what we call ‘faith’ becomes equally complicated and difficult.
Might today’s Gospel be an invitation to ‘unclutter’ our image of God? Beneath the clutter, imagine the beauty and simplicity we might find.
Join me in reflection on today’s Gospel.
Many thanks,
Brian
Gospel Reflection for Sunday October 16th
Children do it instinctively. They somehow focus like a laser on our weak spots and know how to nag us just enough to get what they want. So frequently, while working in school, a parent would say to me, “I don’t know what to do with him. If I ground him, he’ll just nag me to death until I let him out!”. Isn’t this just what the judge says in today’s Gospel? “…she will persist in coming and worry me to death.”
Is Jesus really suggesting that ‘nagging’ is how we should approach God when praying for something? Surely not! It would be a very negative relationship if it were built on a type of mental harassment.
It is in Matthew’s Gospel we find the beautiful imagery of the “birds of the air…” and …the lilies of the field…” They do not, Jesus tells us, “…sow or reap or store away in barns…. and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” A little later, Jesus concludes, “… If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
As soon as I read today’s Gospel this beautiful section of Matthew came to mind. It is difficult, maybe, to compare things as beautiful as lilies blowing in the breeze or birds flying freely in the air to unjust, hard-hearted judges and maligned, poverty stricken widows but, in both cases the message seems to be the same. If an unjust judge can be swayed by sheer persistence, or creation is beautiful without doing anything to earn its magnificence, then just imagine what a loving and generous God might do for us.
There is, for me, a simplicity in both images which is stunning. The God Jesus shows us here is not complicated or difficult to understand. Jesus tells us of a simple God, so utterly generous and bountiful, that he lives only to fill us with good things. Like the lilies in the field this God does not need us to earn the wonders he gives us, and unlike the poor widow, this God will never need to be harassed or hassled in order to care for us.
Jesus, it seems to me, constantly wants us to encounter a simple, uncomplicated God; a God who is ‘Love’ and nothing else. Nobody needs to tell a parent how to ‘love’ their child. Despite the countless millions of words written about ‘parenting’, the concept itself is unbelievably simple – Love.
Jesus is somehow saying the same about God. Behind all of the commandments and laws, behind the gold and silver of churches, behind the bells and incense and awe of worship, behind the sacrifices and offerings we present, there is an incredibly simple, personal God who is, just, Love.
Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could see the God who Jesus saw? Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could experience the God who Jesus experienced? Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could hear God say to us, “You are my own dear child, in whom I am well pleased.”?
It would be lovely to do all that but, sadly, we can’t. However maybe, just maybe, we can come a lot closer than we might think. The Gospels, the life and message of Jesus, indeed the whole history of God’s chosen people, are invitations to do just that.
Today’s Gospel might be a good starting point for us. Might Jesus be asking us to ‘unclutter’ our notion of God? A kind of attic clear out, where we blow away the dust or years gone, archive the hurts which have scarred us, bin the pettiness which so often shapes us, so that only one box remains, labelled ‘God’ and containing the simple, uncomplicated, truth that God is Love and nothing else, and that Love gives of itself always and completely, drawing us to ‘a friend’ who never leaves us and always cares for us.
Isn’t it interesting that in the story about the lilies of the field, and in today’s Gospel, Jesus finishes by talking about faith, or rather, lack of faith?
Today, the Gospel concludes, “When the Son of man comes, will he find any faith on earth?” and when talking about the lilies of the field Jesus, almost angrily, says, “…you of little faith.”
If our understanding of God is cluttered and complicated, then so too will be our understanding of ‘faith’. We will get lost in how ‘faith’ can be a gift, and all of the ways we can ‘lose’ our faith and the consequences when that happens.
But if our God is Love, and nothing else, who wants only that we “might have life, and have it to the full.”, then our ‘faith’ is simple and uncomplicated; it is in a God who loves us…always and completely… who is generous and bountiful… and who asks nothing in return.
We don’t need to nag and hassle God because God “knows what we need before we even ask for it!” (Mtt 6:8)
Our faith is in a true friend, who never leaves us. It is as simple and uncomplicated as that.
Matthew concludes his story about the lilies of the field by say, “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ … But seek first his Kingdom, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
If we can only live our lives as the Prophet Micah suggests we do, by “acting justly, loving tenderly and walking humble before our God.” then we can leave the rest to God.
That, for me, is so, so comforting.
Many thanks,
Brian
| Gospel Reading for Sunday October 16th | Luke 18: 1-8 |
|---|
