Sunday reflections

L’Arche is an international federation of communities where people with and without an intellectual disability share life and build community together. L’Arche, a French word for ‘the Ark’, seeks to create homes rooted in the Christian gospel but open to all, where people live a simple life of work, care, prayer and celebration.

In 2006, Franciscan theologian Richard Rohr visited Australia and was interviewed on ABC Radio National’s “Religion Report”. At the time, I was particularly impressed by a point Rohr made in distinguishing between “Christianity” and “Churchianity”, where the first constituted a challenge to the prevailing wider societal mores and values, while the second supported the cultural status quo.

How do we speak of God’s commitment to us in Jesus Christ?

The 4^th Sunday of Lent is traditionally known as Laetare Sunday, so called because of the first word “Rejoice” in the Entrance Antiphon of the liturgy. Laetare is a Latin word that means “rejoice.” Midway on our long Lenten journey to Easter, our energy and enthusiasm may well be flagging.

If there is one incident in Jesus’ life that leads us to question his judgment, the story of him taking a whip and angrily driving people out of the temple must rank as a strong contender. We have heard in recent weeks that Jesus can be forthright in challenging people – even calling pharisees ‘hypocrites’ to their faces!

Abraham is a problematic figure in the biblical story. He lies to Pharoah about his wife, hanging her out to dry to protect his own skin. He does the same thing a few chapters later to another king, Abimelech. But when push comes to shove, at the moment of the test, he … ’passed with flying colors’ as we used to say in school.

Mark wrote his gospel for persecuted Christians living in Rome. These early believers lived in fear of being thrown to the wild beasts in the public square; their cruel and agonising deaths a source of grotesque ‘entertainment’ for Rome’s citizens!

The Old Testament Law existed to protect God’s people from physical and moral hazards that could harm the whole community. The Law’s emphasis on spiritual and bodily purity established how God’s people could live together in a healthy relationship with God and each other.

The story of Job was a huge challenge to the accepted moral outlook of the Old Testament people: namely, that suffering was God’s way of punishing the sinner. Yet, Job was convinced of his innocence and was not afraid to bemoan his lot, complaining to God, despite his friends’ admonitions that he must be guilty.