Sunday reflections

Jesus’ disciples would have had the words of prophets like Malachi in today’s first reading inscribed onto their hearts. Malachi, speaking centuries before the birth of Jesus, describes the day of God’s judgement when “all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble” and, for God’s people, “there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.” 

What difference would it make to the way we live if we embodied in our lives the reality of the resurrection. The Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection, tried to trap Jesus into a flawed answer in today’s Gospel reading. Their focus was limited to the framework of traditional laws which prescribed the rules of marriage at that time. 

Today’s readings focus on the theme of “mercy”. The author of the Wisdom of Solomon reflects on the expansive nature of God’s mercy, which is extended to all creation. The Psalmist sings of the divine being’s graciousness and compassion: “slow to anger and abounding in mercy” (Ps 145:8).

Today’s reading from Luke’s gospel continues Jesus’ teaching on prayer. It relates one of Jesus’ best-known parables, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. As with all of Jesus’ parables, it turns our expectations upside down! 

The Amalekites were a fierce desert tribe, unhappy about strangers coming into their territory and they became one of Israel’s enemies in the early periods of their history. After the lengthy Israelite Exodus from Egypt, and as they prepared to enter the promised land the Amalekites attacked Israel, but Israel repulsed the attack. The battle took place at Rephidim – the last stopping-place of the Israelites on the Exodus from Egypt before they reached Mt Sinai.

Have you ever memorised a song, a hymn, a saying, or motto? Advertising companies are paid huge dollars for jingles that stick in the minds of potential customers. 

If you happen to take a road trip in the United States, you may see an advertisement for a local tourist attraction that is said to be the ‘World’s Largest’, for example, the world’s largest Thermometer or the world’s largest Mailbox.

It’s easy enough to be invisible in our society, just be poor. We often don’t see the outsiders, who become the nobodies, and then, quite literally, we remove them from our sight – to cheap motels, to grotty boarding houses, to the edges of our cities, to Christmas Island, while not forgetting those who lie at our gates in what we call the ‘Third World’: out of sight so they might all be kept out of mind.  

Human nature doesn’t seem to change very much. Writing some 750 years before the coming of Christ, the prophet Amos is complaining about the rich and powerful exploiting the poor and oppressed. 

The central claim of our faith is summarised by St Paul in today’s readings. “This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”